Royal Bhutan Army

First King of Bhutan Gongsar Ugyen Wangchuck with his bodyguards in 1905 before the formation of the RBA

With intense support from India, the RBA was formed in the 1950s in response to the Chinese annexation and subsequent People's Liberation Army actions in Tibet. In 1958, the royal government introduced a conscription system and plans for a standing army of 2,500 soldiers.[5] The Indian government had also repeatedly urged and pressured Bhutan to end its neutrality or isolationist policy and accept Indian economic and military assistance. This was because India considered Bhutan one of the most vulnerable sectors in its strategic defense system in regards to China.[7] When Bhutan accepted the Indian offer, the Indian Army became responsible for the training and equipping of the RBA. By 1968 the RBA consisted of 4,850 soldiers; by 1990 this had risen to 6,000.[5] Following the increases after an anti-militant operation in 2003, the RBA peaked at over 9,000 in 2007 before being reduced to 8,000 in 2008.[8]

Bhutanese officers were deployed to UNDOF as staff officers in 2015.[9][10]

The Indian Army maintains a training mission in Bhutan, known as the Indian Military Training Team (IMTRAT), which is responsible for the training of RBA and RBG personnel.[11] All RBA and RBG officers are trained at the Indian Army's officer training institutes, namely the National Defence Academy (NDA) in Pune, and the Indian Military Academy (IMA) in Dehradun.[12]

Project DANTAK of the Border Roads Organisation, a subdivision of the Indian Army Corps of Engineers, has been operating in Bhutan since May 1961. Since then Project DANTAK has been responsible for the construction and maintenance of over 1,500 km of roads and bridges, Paro Airport and Yongphulla Airport (upgraded in 2018, with scheduled fixed-wing civilian flights), heliports and other infrastructure. While these serve India's strategic defense needs, they are also an obvious economic benefit for the people of Bhutan.[13]

During the early '90s Indian separatist groups United Liberation Front of Asom (ULFA), National Democratic Front of Bodoland (NDFB) and Kamtapur Liberation Organization (KLO) had begun to clandestinely set up camps in Bhutan's dense southern jungles. These camps were used to train cadres, store equipment and launch attacks on targets in India.[16] The Bhutanese government became aware of their presence in 1996, and from 1997 the issue was regularly discussed in the National Assembly.[17] The Government of India began exerting diplomatic pressure on the Royal Government to remove the militant presence and offered to conduct joint military operations with Bhutan against the militants. The Royal Government, preferring a peaceful solution, declined the offer and instead initiated dialogue with the militant groups in 1998.[18] By December 2003 negotiations had failed to produce any agreement and the Royal Government, unable to tolerate the groups' presence any longer, issued a 48-hour ultimatum on 13 December. On 15 December the RBA commenced military operations against the militant groups.[16]

The Haa Dzong complex houses IMTRAT army offices.

As of 2008 the RBA stood at 8,000 active-duty personnel.[8] This follows an initiative introduced in 2005 by the Royal Government of Bhutan to reduce the strength of the RBA while increasing militia training of the Bhutanese population.[23]

The RBA is a mobile infantry force lightly armed with weapons largely supplied by India.

The Royal Bhutan Army maintains a camp at Zompelri which is a border outpost under the control of army's Wing I at Tendruk, Samtse.[29]

• "༄༅། བསྟན་སྲུང་དྲག་པོའི་ལྟེ་བ།། – Royal Bhutan Army". Royal Bhutan Army online.