Royal Cambodian Armed Forces
combined military forces of Cambodia
The Royal Cambodian Armed Forces (RCAF; Khmer: កងយោធពលខេមរភូមិន្ទ, romanised: Kang Youtheapol Khemaraphumin) is Cambodia's national military force. The Supreme Commander-in-Chief is King Norodom Sihamoni. Since 2018, General Vong Pisen has been the Commander-in-Chief of the RCAF as head of the Army, Navy, Air Force and the Gendarmerie. The armed forces operate under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of National Defence. Under the country's constitution, the RCAF is charged with protecting the sovereignty and territorial integrity of the Kingdom of Cambodia.
It was created in 1993 by a merger of the Cambodian People's Armed Forces (CPAF) and the National Army of Democratic Kampuchea (NADK) which included the Khmer Rouge, the Khmer People's National Liberation Front (KPNLF) and the National United Front for an Independent, Neutral, Peaceful and Cooperative Cambodia (Front uni national pour un Cambodge indépendant, neutre, pacifique, et coopératif, FUNCINPEC). The forerunner of the CPAF was the Kampuchean People's Revolutionary Armed Forces (KPRAF), established in 1979 with support from the People's Army of Vietnam (PAVN).
History
Royal Khmer Armed Forces (FARK)
Khmer National Armed Forces (FANK)
Revolutionary Army of Kampuchea (RAK)
Kampuchean People's Revolutionary Armed Forces (KPRAF)
Cambodian People's Armed Forces (CPAF)
Royal Cambodian Armed Forces (RCAF)
The RCAF was established in 1993 after the democratic election of a government consisting of two prime ministers. The armed forces of all parties except the NADK were integrated into a national armed force.
To resolve security problems, the government began a "Win-Win policy" in mid-1995 of national reconciliation and unity efforts under the Monarchy of Cambodia.
This brief starts where responsible research should: with the source description of “Royal Cambodian Armed Forces” as combined military forces of Cambodia. Everything that follows is an evidence route, not borrowed authority.
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The subject matters to the general reference register because the source frames it as combined military forces of Cambodia. Its deeper value depends on whether names, dates, institutions and citations support that framing.
Named sources, stable identifiers and responsible institutions provide the strongest route from overview to verifiable evidence. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 15, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q928226. 1 of 1 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 2018, 1993, 1979 and 1995.
The absence of detail may reflect summary conventions rather than a lack of surviving documentation. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
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This entry incorporates text from “Royal Cambodian Armed Forces” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.