List of equipment of the Royal Cambodian Army

This is a list of the equipment used by the Royal Cambodian Army.

In order to decrease its dependence on former Warsaw Pact military equipment (a legacy of the Kampuchean People's Revolutionary Armed Forces), Cambodia has begun to explore the possibility of purchasing Chinese and European vehicles and equipment.

On 10 December 2021, the Prime Minister of Cambodia, Samdech Hun Sen, ordered the Cambodian Armed Forces to destroy or put into reserve all US-origin military equipment, in response to the American backed military embargo imposed on Cambodia. ^{[1] [2]}

Infantry equipment

Sidearms

Name	Image	Origin	Type	Calibre	Notes
CF98		China	Semi-automatic pistol	9x19mm Parabellum	Standard issue. [3] [4]
Pindad G2 Elite		Indonesia	Semi-automatic pistol	9x19mm Parabellum	Used by Special Force Command since 2024. [5] [6] [7]
CZ P-10 C		Czech Republic	Semi-automatic pistol	9x19mm Parabellum	Used by Special Force Command. [8] [9]
Type 54		China	Semi-automatic pistol	7.62x25mm Tokarev	Limited use. Inherited from the Kampuchean People's Revolutionary Armed Forces. [8] [9]
Tokarev		Soviet Union
Makarov				9×18mm Makarov

Infantry rifles

Name	Image	Origin	Type	Calibre	Notes
Type 56		China	Assault rifle	7.62×39mm	Standard issue. [8] [9]
Type 81-1
Norinco CQ		China		5.56×45mm NATO	CQ 311 used by Royal Cambodian Army, along with M16 rifle. [10] [11] [12]
QBZ-95		China	Assault rifle	5.8×42mm	Limited use. used by special forces and BHQ since 2023. [13]
K1A		Republic of Korea	Carbine	5.56×45mm NATO	Used by Special Forces Command. [14]
K2C
Pindad SS2-V5 A1		Indonesia			Used by Special Forces Command since 2024. [5] [6] [7]
Pindad SS1-V1		Indonesia	Assault rifle	5.56×45mm NATO	Supplied in 1991. [15] [16]
M16A1		United States	Assault rifle	5.56×45mm NATO	Limited use. Inherited from the Kampuchean People's Revolutionary Armed Forces. [8] [17] [18]
SKS		Soviet Union	Semi-automatic rifle	7.62×39mm	Limited use. Inherited from the Kampuchean People's Revolutionary Armed Forces. [8] [9]
AK-47			Assault rifle
AKM

Precision rifles

Name	Image	Origin	Type	Calibre	Notes
Type 79 [8] [9]		China   Soviet Union	Sniper rifle	7.62×54mmR	Norinco-made copy of the SVD, known as the Type 79. Used by Special Forces Command. Inherited from the Kampuchean People's Revolutionary Armed Forces.[ citation needed ]

Machine guns

Name	Image	Origin	Type	Calibre	Notes
RPD [8] [9]		Soviet Union	Light machine gun	7.62×39mm	Standard issue. Inherited from the Kampuchean People's Revolutionary Armed Forces.[ citation needed ]
RPK [8] [9]
Type 81 LMG [8] [9]		China
PKM [8] [9]		Soviet Union   Russia	General-purpose machine gun	7.62×54mmR
M84 [8] [9]		Yugoslavia
DShK [8] [9]		Soviet Union	Heavy machine gun	12.7×108mm
W85 [19]		China			Standard issue.[ citation needed ]
QJZ-89 [8] [9]

Grenade launchers

Name	Image	Origin	Type	Calibre	Notes
M79 [8] [9]		United States	Grenade launcher	40×46mm	Limited use. Inherited from the Kampuchean People's Revolutionary Armed Forces.[ citation needed ]
M203 [8] [9]
Norinco LG4		China	Automatic grenade launcher	40×53mm	Used by units of the Royal Cambodian Army. [20]
Norinco LG5 / QLU‑11		China	Automatic grenade launcher	40×53mm	Used by infantry and armored units of the Royal Cambodian Army.[ citation needed ]

Anti-tank

Name	Image	Origin	Type	Calibre	Notes
RPG-2 [8] [9]		Soviet Union	Rocket-propelled grenade	82mm	Standard issue. Inherited from the Kampuchean People's Revolutionary Armed Forces.[ citation needed ]
RPG-7 [8] [9]				85mm
Type 69 [8] [9]		China			Standard issue.[ citation needed ]
PF-89 [21]			Anti-tank rocket launcher	80mm	Limited use.[ citation needed ]

Vehicles

Armoured vehicles

Name	Image	Origin	Number	Notes
Main battle tank
T-54/T-55		Soviet Union	300+ [22]	A, AM2B and AMV variants.[ citation needed ]
T-55AM1		Czechoslovakia	100 [22]	T-55AM1 and T-55AM2 Czechoslovak variant and T-55AM2BP Polish variant.[ citation needed ]
Type 59-II		China	50 [22]
Light tanks
Type 63-I		China	20 [22]
Type 62-I			50 [22]
Infantry fighting vehicles
BMP-1		Soviet Union	100 [22]	61 BMP-1 from the Czech Republic, 8 BVP-1 from Slovakia, and 30 from the former KPRAF.[ citation needed ]
Armoured reconnaissance
BRDM-2		Soviet Union	200+ [22]
Armoured personnel carriers
OT-64		Czechoslovakia	30 [22]
BTR-60		Soviet Union	200 [22]
BTR-152
YW531		China	50 [22]	YW531 is a (Type 63 APC) donated by China.[ citation needed ]
ZFB-05		China	Unknown [22]
Tigr		Russia	20 [22]
BB 60		Cambodia	6 [22]
BTR-3		Ukraine	1(0)	The Royal Thai Army authorities later recovered it successfully.[ citation needed ]
Armoured utility vehicles
Dongfeng Mengshi		China	50 [22]
Dongfeng EQ2050 [23]
Iveco VM 90 [ citation needed ]

Military trucks and support vehicles

Name	Origin	Type	Quantity	Notes
Cargo trucks
KamAZ-43114 [24]	Russia	Cargo truck	Unknown	Used by border units and units sent on UN peacekeeping operations.[ citation needed ]
Dongfeng EQ2162GS [25]	China		>227	Standard truck of the RCA. Received from China as a donation in 2010, but unknown quantities have been donated over the years.[ citation needed ]
Hongyan Genpaw [26]			183	Purchased using private funds. Split between the military, law enforcement and bodyguard unit (BHQ).[ citation needed ]
Hongyan Genlyon [26]			107
Tractor units
ZIL-130V1 [27]	Soviet Union	Tractor unit	Unknown	Possibly retired. Used during the 1997 Cambodian coup d'état.[ citation needed ]
Scania R500 [28]	Sweden			Spotted during the 2008–2013 Cambodian–Thai border crisis being used transport T-55s from Sihanoukville to Preah Vihear.[ citation needed ]
Engineering and support vehicles
Shacman L3000 [29]	China	Tanker truck	290	Used for transporting soldiers and other military equipment.[ citation needed ]
Light utility vehicles
Beijing BJ80 [23]	China	Light utility vehicle	Unknown
KIA KM131 [30]	Republic of Korea			Widespread usage within the RCA. Examples used by SF-911 are equipped with PKM or Type 80 GPMGs.[ citation needed ]

Anti-tank weapons

Recoilless rifles

Name	Image	Origin	Caliber	Number	Notes
Recoilless rifles
B-10		Soviet Union	82mm	n/a [22]
B-11			107mm
Armbrust		West Germany	67mm		[31]
GAM-102		China	1200mm	Unknown	Some of them were captured by the Royal Thai Army

Artillery

Name	Image	Origin	Caliber	Number	Notes
Mortars
M-37		Soviet Union	82mm	n/a [22]
M-43			120mm
M-160			160mm
Towed
ZIS-3		Soviet Union	76mm	[22]	10 units[ citation needed ]
M-30			122mm		50 units[ citation needed ]
D-30					120 units[ citation needed ]
M-46			130mm		150 units[ citation needed ]
Type-59-I		China		100 units	Supplied by China in the 1970s.[ citation needed ]
Type 66			152mm	80 units	Donated by China.[ citation needed ]
M101A1		United States	105mm	Unknown	Still in service of ceremonial use.[ citation needed ]
Self-propelled artillery
SH-1		China	155mm	30 [22]	Cambodia has equipped 30 PCL-09 with a version of SH-1 truck from China.[ citation needed ]
Multiple rocket launchers
Type-63		China	107mm	20 [22]
BM-21		Soviet Union	122mm	200 [22]
PHL-81		China		100 [22]	100 PHL-81 was bought by the Cambodian armed forces from China.[ citation needed ]
PHL-90B				25 [22]	PHL-90B is a variant of the PHL-81 bought by the Cambodian armed forces from China. The total service with Type 81 and Type 90B is 125 units.[ citation needed ]
RM-70		Czechoslovakia		125 [22]	In active service. 5 RM-70 from Slovakia and 120 RM-70 from the Czech Republic.[ citation needed ]
BM-13-16		Soviet Union	132mm	n/a [22]
BM-14-16			140mm	20 [22]
PHL-03		China	300mm	6 [22]	6 launchers, 2 WS2400, 2 WS2500, and 1 BeiBen command post. [32]

Air defence

Name	Image	Origin	Number	Notes
Guns
ZPU-1		Soviet Union	n/a [22]	10 in service protecting key infrastructures.[ citation needed ]
ZPU-2
ZPU-4
M-1939				30 received in the late 1970s.[ citation needed ]
S-60				100 in service by 2017.[ citation needed ]
Point-defence
HN-5		China	[22]	100
FN-6			[22]	100
FN-16		China	[22]	200
QW-3			[22]	100
Medium-range
KS-1C		China	4 batteries [22]	Entered service in 2023.[ citation needed ]

References

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2. Dara, Mech (10 December 2021). "Hun Sen Orders American-Made Weapons Destroyed, 'Thanks' US for Arms Embargo". VOD.
3. "왕립 캄보디아군 VOL.1" [Royal Cambodian Army Vol.1]. kjclub.com (in Korean). Retrieved 12 March 2021.
4. Bolding, Damon (29 April 2014). "PLA Infantry Weapons: Small Arms of the World's Largest Army". Small Arms Defense Journal. Retrieved 12 March 2021.
5. TONG (30 August 2024). "Indonesia Provides $500,000 in Military Aid to Cambodia". FRESH NEWS. Retrieved 21 September 2024.
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11. ""Civil War of Chinese Weapons?" Thai-Cambodian Clash Exposes a Regional Divide in Military Modernization". The China-Global South Project. 31 July 2025. Retrieved 10 August 2025.
12. TAB (8 August 2025). "Small Arms of the 2025 Thai-Cambodia Border Clash". The Armourers Bench. Retrieved 10 August 2025.
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14. Picard, Michael; Holtom, Paul; Mangan, Fiona (2019). Trade Update 2019. Transfers, Transparency, and South-east Asia Spotlight (PDF). Small Arms Survey. ISBN   978-2-940548-75-0. Archived from the original (PDF) on 11 December 2019. Retrieved 15 January 2022.
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20. TAB (31 July 2025). "Small Arms of the 2025 Thai-Cambodia Border Clash". The China-Global South Project. Retrieved 14 December 2025.
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22. IISS 2025.
23. Bunthoeurn, Orm (6 October 2020). "Military vehicles from China given to RCAF". The Phnom Penh Post. Retrieved 13 March 2021.
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25. China Gives 257 Military Trucks to Cambodia (Cambodia news in Khmer), 24 June 2010, retrieved 13 March 2021
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27. Cambodia - Fighting continues, 21 July 2015, retrieved 13 March 2021
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Sources

• International Institute for Strategic Studies (12 February 2025). The Military Balance 2025. London: Routledge. ISBN   978-1-003-63076-0.