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Peru Army
The EP was the largest of the military services in
1992, with
about 75,000 total personnel--some 8,000 officers and
52,000
conscripts, with the balance technicians and
noncommissioned
officers (NCOs). However, it grew by less than the other
services
during the 1980s--only by about 15 percent, after almost
doubling
in size during the 1970s.
Most of the army's manpower, as well as some of the
navy's
and air force's, has been provided by two-year conscripts.
Although all male citizens between the ages of twenty and
twentyfive were liable for military training and compulsory
military
service, a selective draft system was used in practice. On
completion of their two-year service, conscripts remained
in the
Army Reserve (Reserva), without compensation, for ten
years. Then
they passed to a second-line reserve, the National Guard
(Guardia
Nacional). The Army Reserve was formed by men between
eighteen
and fifty years of age and women between eighteen and
forty-five
years of age who do not serve in the active forces.
In contrast with the navy and FAP, no women served in
army
ranks. By law, women were required to register for
obligatory
military service in one of the three armed forces and
could be
called up between the ages of eighteen and forty-five for
two
years. As of 1991, this had never been done. In the army,
women
served only in civilian capacities, such as secretaries,
clerks,
and nurses. The view that it would be very difficult to
integrate
women into regular military service, including combat
roles,
continued to prevail in the EP in 1992.
Since the late 1920s, combat units have been organized
on the
tactical formation of the light division (división
ligera), made up of four infantry battalions and an
artillery
group, with the possibility of adding as needed a cavalry
regiment or an engineer battalion or both. The equivalent
in size
of a United States brigade, in 1991 there were a total of
twelve
light divisions, including one airborne, one jungle
operations,
two armored, one cavalry, six motorized light infantry,
and one
special forces divisions.
The infantry, armored, and engineer forces were
organized as
of 1990 into some thirty-six battalions, including three
commando
and one paratrooper battalions, plus some nineteen groups.
The
cavalry was formed into eight regiments, including the
horse
regiment that made up the presidential escort and two
armored
regiments in the Tacna Detachment (Third Military Region).
The
artillery was made up of fourteen groups, including four
antiaircraft units, an airborne group, and two jungle
units.
There were also two tank battalions and seven engineer
battalions, including three armored, three combat, and one
construction.
The five military regions originally determined by the
French
military mission at the start of the twentieth century
continued
to comprise the geographic areas of deployment of the EP.
The
First Military Region, headquartered in the city of Piura,
consisted of the northwestern departments of Tumbes,
Piura,
Lambayeque, Cajamarca, and Amazonas
(see
fig. 1). The
Lima-based
Second Military Region comprised the north-central and
coastal
departments of La Libertad, Ancash, Lima, Ica, and
Huancavelica,
as well as the constitutional province of Callao. The
Third
Military Region, headquartered in Arequipa, included the
southwestern coastal-highland departments of Arequipa,
Moquegua,
and Tacna. The Fourth Military Region, headquartered in
Cusco,
covered the entire central and southern spine of the Andes
and
its slopes and foothills toward the jungles of the east
and
comprised the department San Martín, Huánuco, Junín,
Pasco,
Ayacucho, Puno, Apurímac, and the largely jungle
department of
Madre de Dios. The Fifth Military Region, headquartered in
Peru's
largest Amazon city of Iquitos, covered the jungle
departments of
Loreto and Ucayali. Each region was normally commanded by
a major
general.
The general staff of the EP had four sections directed
by an
assistant chief of staff--personnel, intelligence,
operations,
and logistics. Additional special staffs, whose directors
reported to the chief of staff, included engineers,
communications, ordnance, finance, medical, research and
development, reserves, premilitary training, and
chaplains.
Beginning in 1973, after approaching the United States,
France, and Israel without success, the EP negotiated
agreements
to purchase substantial quantities of arms and equipment
from the
Soviet Union. Price and credit terms were deemed to be far
more
favorable than any arrangements that could be made with
other
potential suppliers. With its Soviet T-54, T-55, and T-62
tanks,
as well as its French AMX-13 light tanks, Peru had a
significant
armored capability, concentrated largely in the two tank
battalions in the Third Military Region (see
table 23,
Appendix).
Peru produced some small arms and ammunition, but most
were
purchased from several foreign suppliers, including the
United
States. The diverse sources of Peruvian equipment posed
challenging logistical problems, in addition to reported
difficulties with maintenance on some Soviet equipment,
especially tanks and helicopters.
Data as of September 1992
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