MILITARY OF PERU

The 'Peruvian Armed Forces' are composed of an Army, a Navy and an Air Force. Their primary mission is to safeguard the country's independence, sovereignty and territorial integrity against any threat. As a secondary mission they participate in economic and social development as well as in civil defense tasks.^[4]

Contents

Personnel

Army

Navy

Air Force

Notes

External links

See also

Personnel

Personnel (as of 2001)1
Commissioned Officers	10,337
Non-commissioned officers	38,008
Cadets	2,108
NCO in training	2,549
Enlisted	67,356
Civilians	26,570
Total	120,658 (excl. civilians)

Army

Headquartered in Lima, it has a strength of 75 thousand troops divided in four military regions with headquarters in Piura, Lima, Arequipa and Iquitos. Every military region assigned several brigades of which there are different types, including infantry, cavalry and armored. There are also several groups and battalions which operate independently.
The equipment of the Peruvian Army includes several types of tanks (T-55 and AMX-13), armoured personnel carriers (M-113, UR-416), artillery (D30, M101, M109 and M114 howitzers), antiaircraft systems (ZSU-23-4 Shilka) and helicopters (Mil Mi-2, Mil Mi-17).

Navy

Peruvian Navy (''Marina de Guerra del Perú'') is organized in five naval zones headquartered in Piura, Lima, Arequipa, Iquitos and Pucallpa. It has a strength of around 25 thousand troops divided between the Pacific Operations and the Amazon Operations General Commands and the Coast Guard.
The Pacific fleet flagship is the cruiser BAP Almirante Grau (CLM-81), named for the XIX-century Peruvian Admiral which fought in the War of the Pacific (1879-1883). The fleet also includes 8 ''Lupo'' class frigates (two of which were built in Peru), 1 ''Daring'' class destroyer, 6 ''PR-72'' class corvettes, 4 ''Terrebonne Parish'' class landing ships, 6 ''Type 209/1200'' class German-built diesel submarines (the biggest submarine force in South America), as well as patrol vessels, tankers and cargo ships.
Peruvian Navy has also a naval aviation force, several naval infantry battalions and special forces units.

Air Force

On May 20, 1929, the aviation divisions of the Peruvian army and navy were merged into the Peruvian Aviation Corps (CAP, ''Cuerpo de Aviación del Peru''). In 1950, the corps was reorganized again and became the Peruvian Air Force (FAP, ''Fuerza Aérea del Perú'').
The Peruvian Air Force is divided into 6 wing areas, headquartered in Piura, Chiclayo, Lima, Arequipa, Rioja and Iquitos. With a strength of 35 thousand troops, the FAP counts in its arsenal with MiG-29, Mirage 2000, Mirage 5 and SU-22 supersonic aircraft.
It also counts with Su-25 close-support aircraft, as well as Mi-25 antitank helicopters, Mi-8, Mi-17 transport helicopters, and Aermacchi MB-339, Cessna A-37B and Embraer EMB-312 Tucano subsonic aircraft.
In 1995, the FAP took part in the Cenepa War against Ecuador covering operations by the army and navy. After the war, the FAP began acquiring new material, especially MiG-29 fighters and Su-25 attack fighters which are, along with the Mirage 2000 fighters, the main combat elements of the FAP.

Notes

1. http://www.resdal.org/art-rial.htm, based on Supreme Decree DS No. 69 DE/SG of 2001.
2. Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, ''The SIPRI Military Expenditure Database''. Ministerio de Defensa, http://first.sipri.org/non_first/milex.php.
3. Ley Nº 27178 Ley del Servicio Militar, http://www.ejercito.mil.pe/transpar/dispos_legales/ley27178.doc
4. Ministerio de Defensa, ''Libro Blanco de la Defensa Nacional''. Ministerio de Defensa, 2005, 90.

External links

★ Ministry of Defence of Peru (Spanish)

★ Army (Spanish)

★ Air force {Spanish)

★ Navy (Spanish)

★ Perulinks Armed forces Link list

See also