Peruvian Armed Forces

Founded in 1821, the Fuerzas Armadas del Peru are the Peru’s military services, includes the independent army, Navy and Air Force components. Their main mission is to protect the country’s independence, sovereignty and territorial integrity against nearby any threats. They also participate in economic and social development of the country as well as in civil defense task s as optional missions. The headquarters are located in Lima and consists of over 150,000 active personal. The Peruvian National Police is often considered as a part of the armed forces, but in reality it is a different organization, with completely different missions and reports through the Ministry of Interior, while the armed forces through the Ministry of Defense.

The strength of the Armed Forces of over 76,000 troops divided into four military regions with headquarters located in Piura, Lima, Arequipa and Iquitos. Each military region is assigned several brigades, which includes different types, such as infantry, cavalry, armored and independent working battalions.

The Peruvian Navy (Marina De Guerra del Peru) is divided into five naval zones with headquarters located in Piura, Lima, Arequipa, Iquitos and Pucallpa. It has more than 26,000 troops split between the Pacific Operations and Amazon Operations General Commands and the Coast Guard. Named after the 19th century Peruvian Admiral, who fought in the War of the Pacific, the Peruvian Pacific fleet flagship BAP Almirante Grau is the guided-missile cruiser. The fleet also has eight Lupo class fighters, six PR-72P class corvettes, 3 Terrebonne Parish class landing ships, 2 types of 209/1100 and 4 types of 209/1200 class German built diesel submarine, which is considered the biggest submarine force in South America, also it has patrol vessels, tankers, cargo ships and Naval Aviation Forces, with several naval infantry battalions and special forces units.

After the merge of Aviation divisions of Peruvian Army Forces and Navy into Peruvian Aviation Corps in 1929, the corps was reorganized again into Peruvian Air Forces in 1950. It is split into 6 wing areas, headquarters in Piura, Chiclayo, Lima, Arequipa, Rioja and Iquitos. With the might of over 18,000 troops, it has the arsenal with MIG-29 (Interceptors) and Mirage 2000 (Multirole aircraft). They also have SU-25 close support aircrafts, MI-25 attack helicopters, MI-17 transport helicopters, Aermacchi MB-339, Embraer MB-312 Tucano subsonic training aircrafts, Cessna A37-B light attack helicopters and COIN missions. In 1995 the air forces fought in the Genepa War against Ecuador, covering operations by the Navy and the Army. After the war they started acquiring new weapons, utilities, parts and much improved helicopters, which they use now as a main combat elements.