Armed Forces¶

The Armed Forces of the Confederated States (AFCS) are the confederation's combined military, comprising the Confederal Army, the Confederal Navy, and the Confederal Air Force. The AFCS has approximately 485,000 active personnel plus an additional 250,000 reservists and conscript-rotation cadres — a peer-tier force, professionally cored with conscript augmentation, with a distinctive maritime emphasis that no other ESA force shares.

The AFCS is the principal maritime and air force opposing the WDP in the current Continuation War. The confederation's Aegiran-Sea naval and air campaign is the principal CSAT theatre; the Confederal Army holds defensive posture on the land frontiers and supports the maritime effort with amphibious and rear-area capability.

Doctrine¶

Confederal military doctrine is modern combined arms with a strong navy. The core operational concepts:

Naval and air power projection as the principal offensive instruments — CSAT distinguishes itself from the DPRR as the maritime-emphasising ESA partner; the Confederal Navy is treated as a co-equal service with the Army, not as a junior auxiliary
Peer-tier combined arms at the land-tactical level — modern armoured and mechanised formations supported by peer-tier artillery and air assets; quality over mass in the WDP-comparable tradition rather than the Soviet-pattern mass tradition
Amphibious capability as a distinctive confederal speciality — the AFCS Marines and the Confederal Navy maintain doctrine, equipment, and training for divisional-scale amphibious operations of the kind executed against the eastern Aegiran islands
Domestic equipment production — the AFCS is principally equipped from CSAT's own peer-tier defence industrial complex, providing both political-strategic independence and the technical quality that domestic equipment supports
Coalition operations with the DPRR under the ESA framework — the AFCS coordinates with RPAF formations through established ESA structures; the two militaries operate as integrated systems rather than independent coalition partners

The doctrine is broadly comparable to WDP peer standards in concept, with the principal divergence being the maritime emphasis (most WDP peer powers are more continental or, in Aegira's case, navy-only). It is well-suited to:

Maritime power projection in the Aegiran and Shalmeen seas
Amphibious operations of the kind executed in July–August 2026
Defensive land operations against peer-tier adversaries (Livonia, Gorlund)
Combined-arms peer warfare at the operational level

It is less well-suited to:

Large-scale offensive land operations of the DPRR-Gorlund kind (and CSAT has correspondingly avoided such commitments)
Sustained operations beyond the confederation's regional projection range
Coalition operations with WDP-pattern partners (the AFCS has no recent experience of these)

The Continuation War has, so far, vindicated the maritime-emphasis doctrine. The eastern-island operations were a clear initial success; the Confederal Navy and Air Force have held their own against the Aegiran Stolos and the broader WDP coalition; the Confederal Army's defensive posture on the land frontiers has been adequate to the threats actually presented.

Force structure¶

The AFCS is organised into three services under the General Staff of the Armed Forces (Generalshtab al-Confederali), with the Ministry of Defence exercising political authority under the Chancellor's direction.

Confederal Army¶

Approximately 310,000 active personnel organised into:

Multiple Corps-level formations — the principal operational ground formations; each typically including 2–3 divisions plus supporting elements
Armoured divisions — peer-tier main battle tank formations; the principal land offensive instrument
Mechanised infantry divisions — IFV-mounted infantry with organic armour; the bulk of the manoeuvre force
Marine divisions — amphibious-trained infantry; the principal expeditionary land force; executed the eastern-island operations
Artillery formations — modern tube and rocket artillery brigades; peer-tier capability at smaller scale than the DPRR's mass-artillery force
Airborne and air-mobile formations — strategic reserve and rapid-response; moderate scale
Desert Mobile Force — specialised gendarmerie-and-light-cavalry force for Karesh security operations; under joint AFCS and Internal Affairs control
Strategic Reserve formations — heavy armour and artillery formations under General Staff direct control

See Confederal Army.

Confederal Navy¶

Approximately 115,000 active personnel — the largest navy in Sierra by personnel and by capability except possibly for the Aegiran Stolos. Headquartered at the principal Shalmeen-coast naval base ([TBD]). The Navy operates:

A substantial surface combatant fleet — destroyers, frigates, corvettes, missile boats; peer-tier in design and equipment
A submarine force — diesel-electric attack submarines; peer-tier; the principal Aegiran-Sea anti-shipping capability
An amphibious force — LHDs, LSTs, and supporting amphibious assets; the principal force-projection capability
Naval aviation — fixed-wing patrol and ASW aircraft, naval helicopters, embarked rotary-wing
The Confederal Marines — divisional-scale amphibious infantry (organisationally part of the Navy)
Coastal defence formations — shore-based anti-shipping missiles, mine warfare, port defence

The Navy is the principal operational force of the current war. The Confederal Marines executed the eastern-island operations; the surface fleet, submarines, and naval aviation conduct the continuous Aegiran-Sea campaign.

See Confederal Navy.

Confederal Air Force¶

Approximately 60,000 active personnel. The Air Force operates:

Fighter formations — air-superiority and multirole fighters; peer-tier
Strike formations — ground-attack and maritime-strike aircraft
Bomber formations — long-range strike capability
Transport — strategic and tactical airlift
Helicopters — attack, transport, and support
Air defence — the country's substantial air-defence apparatus (radar, surface-to-air missiles, gun systems); formally a separate command but operationally integrated under the Air Force

The Air Force is the principal air-superiority and strike instrument of the confederation; it contests Aegiran and broader WDP air operations across the Aegiran Sea and the Shalmeen approaches.

See Confederal Air Force.

Command and control¶

The chain of command runs:

The Chancellor as Supreme Commander
The Confederal Defence Council — the senior political-military coordination body; chaired by the Chancellor; includes the Minister of Defence, the Chief of the General Staff, the service chiefs, and selected Cabinet members
The Minister of Defence — the senior civilian-ministerial official; always a Confederal Union senior figure
The Chief of the General Staff — the senior uniformed officer
Service chiefs — Commander of the Army, Commander of the Navy, Commander of the Air Force
Operational commands — Corps commanders, fleet commanders, air-command commanders for the operational theatres

Recruitment and manpower¶

The AFCS combines volunteer-professional cadres with selective conscription:

Professional cadres — career officers and senior NCOs are recruited through political-vetting and military-academy training; the principal combat-arms NCOs and specialists are volunteer-professional
Selective conscription — confederal conscription is selective rather than universal; approximately 40% of eligible male cohorts are conscripted, with selection by educational and physical criteria; conscript service is 18 months
Volunteer enlistment — supplements conscription; the AFCS prefers volunteers in technical roles
Reserve obligation — continues for 10 years following active service for conscripts, longer for volunteer enlisted and officers
Female service — voluntary; growing in non-combat and selected combat-support roles

The mix produces a substantially higher-quality force than the DPRR's mass-conscript model — AFCS tactical performance is closer to WDP peer standards than the RPAF's. The trade-off is smaller total force size — 485,000 active versus 520,000 active in the DPRR — but the confederation's strategic culture treats quality-over-mass as the appropriate trade.

The current war has expanded conscription and selectively mobilised reserves:

Conscript service extended to 24 months for the duration
Reserve activations have been substantial, particularly in the naval, air, and air-defence specialties
Mass mobilisation has not been activated; the war so far has been within the AFCS's pre-war manpower envelope

Industrial base¶

The AFCS is principally supplied by the domestic defence industrial complex, the FEZ-anchored peer-tier production system that is one of CSAT's signature economic features:

Confederal Heavy Industries — armoured vehicles, artillery systems; principally Dilvaan-Valley plants
Confederal Naval Industries — naval combatants, submarines, amphibious vessels; FEZ-port shipyards
Confederal Aviation Industries — combat aircraft, helicopters, transport; FEZ-anchored production
Confederal Electronics and Missile Systems — peer-tier electronics, missile production, command-and-control systems; FEZ-anchored
Multiple munitions facilities — small arms, ammunition, artillery shells

The defence industrial base is broadly self-sufficient — the confederation can produce the principal weapons systems of all three services domestically, at peer-tier quality. The principal external dependencies are specific high-technology inputs (certain semiconductors, specialised metals) and the strategic rubber import (see Economy).

The defence industry is also a major export sector — confederal military hardware is exported across the ESA and to non-aligned states able to pay. Defence exports are the confederation's signature foreign-currency earner.

ESA integration¶

The AFCS is integrated with RPAF forces through ESA structures:

Joint ESA command for coalition operations
Equipment standardisation — substantial overlap in equipment families across the two militaries; CSAT-designed equipment is widely used by the RPAF
Coordinated doctrine — joint training, exercises, and operational planning at the strategic and operational levels
Logistics cooperation — shared supply chains; cross-state base access; coordinated industrial mobilisation

The integration is closer than the WDP's looser coalition structure, but less close than internal AFCS coordination. The doctrinal differences between the two militaries (AFCS modern-combined-arms vs. RPAF Soviet-pattern mass) introduce real coordination friction at the tactical level.

Wartime expansion¶

The AFCS is in partial wartime mobilisation as of August 2026:

Active strength has expanded modestly through conscription extensions and reserve activations to approximately 540,000–560,000
Industrial output has expanded substantially, with defence-industrial production at approximately 140% of pre-war levels
Defence budget has consumed an estimated 8–9% of GDP since the war began (versus pre-war ~5%)
Casualty replacement is manageable — naval and air losses have been substantial but within sustainable replacement rates; land losses have been minimal given the limited land-warfare commitment

The confederation has not activated the most expansive mobilisation measures (mass conscription, full reserve activation, complete labour mobilisation, full martial law); these remain available as escalation options if the war deteriorates.

Service-level pages¶

Confederal Army — Corps-level formations, armoured and mechanised divisions, Marines, artillery, airborne, Desert Mobile Force
Confederal Navy — Shalmeen and Aegiran fleets, submarines, amphibious force, naval aviation, the Confederal Marines
Confederal Air Force — fighter formations, strike, bombers, transport, air defence
Equipment — service rifle, armour, artillery, naval combatants, aircraft (full equipment treatment pending OOB build)