section_path: Government and politics/Military
section_name: Military
paragraph_text: Military
  
  The military of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, known as the FARDC, consists of the Land Forces, the Air Force, and the Navy. There is also a separate Republican Guard that is outside of the FARDC command structure, being directly responsible to the president. In 2023 there were 103,000 soldiers in the Land Forces, 6,700 in the Navy, 2,550 in the Air Force, 14,000 in the central command, and 8,000 in the Republican Guard. All services together numbered 134,250 personnel, nominally making the FARDC the largest military in Central Africa. However, the FARDC has been undermined by low levels of professionalism, training, morale, pay, and equipment, along with rampant corruption, and its lack of vehicles and aircraft makes it difficult to move troops across the country's large territory.
  
  The FARDC was established in 2003 after the end of the Second Congo War with the integration of many former rebel groups into its ranks, and it still also works with pro-government militias. Since then it has been a diverse combination of the former Zairian armed forces, rebel groups from the Congo Wars, and other militias that were integrated more recently. President Félix Tshisekedi announced the beginning of military reforms in 2022 to create a more cohesive national army. This effort included replacing most of the high command with younger officers that had a record of success and providing more military spending for the years between 2022 and 2024. Despite this, the FARDC continues to be disorganized and has systematic corruption, preventing it from fulfilling its mission to effectively defend the country's entire territory.
  
  The armed forces are organized on the basis of geographic joint commands known as defense zones, one each for the western, south-central, and eastern DRC, which are further divided into military regions. The Land Forces consist of brigades, and in 2011, those in Eastern Congo were reorganized into regiments. It was estimated in 2023 that in total there are nine brigades, 27 regiments, one artillery battalion, and one military police battalion. Many units are reported to be at half of their official strength or less because of combat losses and desertions. The FARDC has spent decades fighting against over 100 armed groups in Eastern Congo and the Kasaï region, including local Mai-Mai militias, the Rwandan-backed March 23 Movement (M23), Nduma Defense of Congo-Renovated (NDC-R), the Allied Democratic Forces (which has become part of the Islamic State), and the Lord's Resistance Army.
  
  The Democratic Republic of Congo signed the UN treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons.