Royal Lao Armed Forces

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Royal Lao Armed Forces
Forces Armées du Royaume
ກອງທັບຣາຊອານາຈັກລາວ
Royal Lao Armed Forces emblem (1961-1975)
Founded1959
Disbanded1975
Service branchesRoyal Lao Army
Royal Lao Air Force
Royal Lao Navy
HeadquartersPhone Kheng (Vientiane)
Leadership
Commander-in-ChiefSoulivong Savang
CommanderPhasouk Somly Rasaphak
Personnel
Active personnel100,000 men (at height)
Reserve personnel96,000
Industry
Foreign suppliers France
 Australia
 Indonesia
 Thailand
 Japan
 Burma
 South Korea
 South Vietnam
 Taiwan
 Philippines
 United Kingdom
 United States
Related articles
HistoryMilitary history of Laos
RanksMilitary ranks of the Royal Lao Armed Forces

The Royal Lao Armed Forces (Lao: ກອງທັບຣາຊອານາຈັກລາວ; French: Forces Armées du Royaume), best known by its French acronym FAR, were the official armed defense forces of the Kingdom of Laos, a state that existed from 1949 to 1975 in what is now the Lao People's Democratic Republic. First created under the French protectorate of Laos on July 1, 1949, the FAR was responsible for the defense of the Kingdom since its independence in October 1953 from France, until its dissolution on December 2, 1975. It operated notably during the North Vietnamese invasion of Laos and the Laotian Civil War from 1960 to 1975.

History

See also: List of military operations of the Laotian Civil War

The foundations of the Royal Lao Armed Forces were laid on May 11, 1947 when King Sisavang Vong granted a constitution declaring Laos an independent nation (and a Kingdom from 1949) within the colonial framework of French Indochina. This act signalled the creation of a Laotian government capable of building its own administration over the next few years, including the establishment of a national defense force. The new Laotian military was officially created on July 1, 1949 from a collection of pre-existing Lao police and militarized constabulary units, regular colonial indigenous troops, and locally raised irregular auxiliaries. However, the formation process was soon hampered by the developments of the ongoing First Indochina War in neighbouring Vietnam, and it was only in 1952 that the National Laotian Army (Armée Nationale Laotiènne or ANL) – the predecessor of the Royal Lao Army[1] – really began to take shape.

By July 1959, it was known as the Laotian Armed Forces (Forces Armées Laotiènnes – FAL), and in September 1961, was renamed Royal Armed Forces (Forces Armées du Royaume – FAR).[2]

Command structure

Throughout its existence, the Laotian Armed Forces were plagued by an ineffective leadership, particularly at senior levels, which often led to chain-of-command problems. The earlier colonial ANL units in the

racketeering, gambling, prostitution, liquor-smuggling, gold-smuggling, and the Opium trade
), rather than learning their trade. As a result, the FAR officer corps was riven by corruption and inefficiency, exacerbated by political divisions and even personal rivalries at all echelons of command. Both professional and personal jealousy was not unknown amongst Laotian higher Commanders, which resulted in endless internal squabbles, and little effort was made to coordinate their activities, rendering the Command, control and coordination of military operations problematic.

This situation was further complicated by a decentralised command structure, in which the FAR

Mekong River valley.[8] A high-echelon command position within a Military Region was dependent upon the influence of an urban elite aristocratic family who economically and politically dominated the MR. If a general was not a scion of one of these families, then he had to get their support in some other manner.[9]

Regional commands

See also: Military Regions of Laos

Laos was divided since 1955 into five Military Regions (Régions Militaires) roughly corresponding to the areas of the country's 13 provinces.[10] The Military Regions were the basis of the warlordism culture that affected the ANL and the FAR high command, with most of the MR Commanders running their zones like private fiefdoms.[11]

Branches

By September 1961 the Royal Lao Armed Forces consisted of three conventional ground, air and naval branches of service. Their primarily roles were: guarantee the sovereignty of the King, ensure internal stability and security by maintaining the social and political order, and defend the Kingdom of Laos against external aggression. Subordinated to the Ministry of Defense of the Royal Lao Government at the capital Vientiane, the FAR branches were organized as follows:

Elite formations

An Auto Defense de Choc (ADC) Hmong guerrilla company assembles at Phou Vieng, Spring 1961.

Training institutions

Prior to its independence in October 1953, Laos lacked almost completely a professional military school system – Officer, Non-commissioned officer (NCO) and Staff schools, plus Technical and Branch training schools – for its Armed Forces, and relied heavily on foreign assistance to train its personnel. Beginning in the early 1950s, Laotian Officers and selected enlisted men were sent overseas to attend specialized courses and advanced schools, and this practice would continue throughout the 1960s and early 1970s. However, a small indigenous training infrastructure (initially run exclusively by the French) gradually began to take shape during the last years of the First Indochina War, and as the Laotian Civil War progressed, it was expanded with the help of the American aid programs, with most of the training being carried out by U.S. advisors.

Lao Military Academy and Staff College

The first Laotian military schools were established by the French Union Army Command in 1952, with the creation at

Savannakhet Province, which eventually became the Lao Military Academy.[13] A Staff and Command school, the Military Institution of Higher Learning (Institut des hautes études militaires – IHEM),[14]
and an Accountancy School (École de Comptabilité) were also established at the time in Vientiane.

Laotian Armed Forces training Centres

Six Laotian Armed Forces training Centres (Centres de Formation des Forces Armées Laotiénnes – CFFAR) were established jointly by the French and U.S. Operation Hotfoot mobile training team advisors at Khang Khay in Military Region 2 (MR 2), at Kilometre 17 (KM 17) and Kilometre 22 (KM 22) both located northeast of Vientiane on Route 13, and at Luang Prabang, Savannakhet and Pakse between July 1959 and March 1960, in order to provide basic infantry and Ranger training to both regular RLA and irregular SGU Laotian troops.[15][16]

Airborne training centres

To train Laotian paratrooper battalions, airborne training centres were established by the French at

Xiangkhouang Province, but the Pathet Lao offensive held in early May 1964 forced the training staff to relocate to Vang Vieng.[18]

Commando and infantry training centres

In the midst of the 1971 reorganization, two dual commando/infantry training centres were set up by the Americans at

Champassak Province[20] was used for two RLA brigades being raised in the Fourth Military Region (MR 4).[21]

Armour training centre

In December 1961, the Neutralists set up an Armoured Training Centre at

Savannakhet Province, with the help of NVA instructors to train Neutralist personnel in PT-76 amphibious light tank tactics and maintenance, though it was later shut down by the Pathet Lao offensive of May 1964.[22]

Aviation school

A flying school was first established by the French at Wattay Air Base in January 1955 to train Laotian pilot cadets,[23] later transferred to Seno Air Base and placed under the control of the RLAF's Air Training Command – ATC (Commandement de l'Entraînement Aérienne – CEA).

Foreign assistance

PEO adviser Jack F. Mathews with then Major Vang Pao, commander of the 10éme Bataillon de Infanterie (10 BI), at Nong Net, July 1960.

Throughout its existence, the Laotian Armed Forces received military assistance at different periods and lengths of time from several countries, including France, the United Kingdom, the United States, Thailand, Burma, the Philippines, the Republic of China (Taiwan), South Vietnam, Indonesia, Australia, and (briefly) from North Vietnam and the Soviet Union.[24]

To meet the threat represented by the

1955 Geneva Accords, as well as covert assistance from the United States in the form of the Programs Evaluation Office (PEO), established on 15 December 1955, replaced in 1961 by the Military Assistance Advisory Group (Laos), which was later changed in September 1962 into the Requirements Office.[26] Between 1962 and 1971, the U.S. provided Laos with direct military assistance, but not including the cost of equipping and training irregular and paramilitary forces by the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA).[27]

Laotian student candidate officers (Aspirants) and senior officers were first sent to France, and later Thailand and the United States, to receive basic officer and advanced staff training in their respective Military Academies and Staff Colleges. At least ten Laotian Aspirants were sent to the prestigious

French Naval Academy in Brest.[29]

Paratrooper and 'Commando' units were sent overseas to receive advanced airborne and reconnaissance training, with Laotian pupils attending the

Fort Bragg, North Carolina.[34]

In late 1955, 22 Royal Laotian Air Force cadets attended flight courses at the

École de l'air in France and Morocco,[35] though five RLAF pilot students were sent in 1962 to the United States to receive training on the T-28 at Moody Air Force Base, Georgia;[36][37] Laotian pilots and air crews were later sent for 0-1, UH-1, T-28, EC-47, AC-47, and C-123 training to South Vietnam and Thailand. Most of the advanced courses and specialized training of Laotian combat pilots was conducted by American advisors of Detachment 1, 56th Special Operations Wing at Udorn, U-Tapao, and Takhli airbases in Thailand,[38] while others were dispatched to attend observer courses at Bien Hoa Air Base, South Vietnam. Additional training was provided in Laos by U.S. Air America instructors to RLAF's C-123 pilots and maintenance crews between January 1973 and July 1974.[39]

See also

Notes

  1. LCCN 95017235
    . Retrieved 5 February 2022.
  2. ^ Conboy and Greer, War in Laos 1954–1975 (1994), pp. 5–7; 13.
  3. ^ Anthony and Sexton, The War in Northern Laos (1993), pp. 11–13.
  4. ^ Conboy and McCouaig, The War in Laos 1960–75 (1989), p. 12.
  5. ^ Conboy and Morrison, Shadow War: The CIA's Secret War in Laos (1995), p. 14.
  6. ^ Fall, Anatomy of a Crisis: The Laotian Crisis of 1960–1961 (1969), p. 17.
  7. ^ Anthony and Sexton, The War in Northern Laos (1993), p. 5.
  8. ^ Conboy and Greer, War in Laos 1954–1975 (1994), p. 14.
  9. ^ Anthony and Sexton, The War in Northern Laos (1993), p. 70, note 47.
  10. ^ Conboy and McCouaig, The War in Laos 1960–75 (1989), p. 4.
  11. ^ Conboy and Greer, War in Laos 1954–1975 (1994), p. 14.
  12. ^ Sananikone, The Royal Lao Army and U.S. Army advice and support (1981), p. 17.
  13. ^ Sananikone, The Royal Lao Army and U.S. Army advice and support (1981), p. 19.
  14. ^ Sananikone, The Royal Lao Army and U.S. Army advice and support (1981), p. 18.
  15. ^ Conboy and Greer, War in Laos 1954–1975 (1994), pp. 7-8.
  16. ^ Conboy and Morrison, Shadow War: The CIA's Secret War in Laos (1995), pp. 23–24.
  17. ^ Conboy and McCouaig, The War in Laos 1960–75 (1989), pp. 24; 33.
  18. ^ Conboy and McCouaig, South-East Asian Special Forces (1991), pp. 15–19.
  19. ^ Conboy and McCouaig, South-East Asian Special Forces (1991), p. 19.
  20. ^ Conboy, FANK: A History of the Cambodian Armed Forces, 1970–1975 (2011), pp. 275–276.
  21. ^ Conboy and McCouaig, The War in Laos 1960–75 (1989), p. 46, Plate G2.
  22. ^ Grandolini, Armor of the Vietnam War (2): Asian Forces (1998), p. 13.
  23. ^ Conboy and Greer, War in Laos 1954–1975 (1994), p. 6.
  24. ^ Conboy and McCouaig, The War in Laos 1960–75 (1989), p. 5.
  25. ^ Conboy and McCouaig, The War in Laos 1960-75 (1989), pp. 24; 33.
  26. ^ Ahern, Undercover Armies: CIA and Surrogate Warfare in Laos (2006), pp. 52; 55.
  27. ^ Castle, At War in the Shadow of Vietnam (1993), pp. 9-12; 15-19.
  28. ^ Sananikone, The Royal Lao Army and U.S. Army advice and support (1981), pp. 17–18.
  29. ^ Sananikone, The Royal Lao Army and U.S. Army advice and support (1981), p. 18.
  30. ^ Conboy and McCouaig, South-East Asian Special Forces (1991), p. 28.
  31. ^ Conboy and McCouaig, South-East Asian Special Forces (1991), pp. 16–18; 23; 28.
  32. ^ Conboy and McCouaig, South-East Asian Special Forces (1991), pp. 48–50.
  33. ^ Grandolini, Armor of the Vietnam War (2): Asian Forces (1998), p. 13.
  34. ^ Conboy and McCouaig, South-East Asian Special Forces (1991), p. 19.
  35. ^ Conboy and Morrison, Shadow War: The CIA's Secret War in Laos (1995), p. 27, note 24.
  36. ^ "Welcome to the Air Combat Information Group". www.acig.org. Retrieved 16 April 2012.
  37. ^ http://www.utdallas.edu/library/collections/speccoll/Leeker/history/Laos3.pdf, p. 13. Retrieved 21 April 2012.
  38. ^ Conboy and Greer, War in Laos 1954–1975 (1994), pp. 28-29.
  39. ^ Conboy and Greer, War in Laos 1954–1975 (1994), p. 37.

References

Secondary sources

External links
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