Rakutanian People's Army¶

The Rakutanian People's Army (RPA) is the senior service of the RPAF and the country's principal combat force. Approximately 420,000 active personnel under arms; mobilized strength on full reserve activation is approximately 1.5 million.

The RPA is the largest land force in Sierra by personnel, and one of the largest in the world. It is also one of the most equipment-mass-heavy — substantial main battle tank inventories, the largest artillery force in Sierra, and large mechanized infantry formations. Quality varies; mass is substantial.

Organization¶

The RPA is organized as a Combined-Arms-Army structured force in the Continental-bloc operational pattern. The basic operational formation is the Combined Arms Army (CAA) — typically 2–3 divisions plus supporting elements. The RPA fields:

Five permanent Combined Arms Armies — operational-level formations under Front Command control
The Strategic Reserve — heavy armor, artillery, and the 101st Airborne Division held under General Staff direct control
Independent armored brigades — direct-support and exploitation formations
Independent artillery brigades — the country's substantial extra-divisional artillery
The 101st Airborne Division "Steppe Eagles" — strategic reserve; the country's most prestigious formation
Strike Force GRU brigades — service-distributed special operations under the General Staff GRU
Border Guards Service formations (administratively under the Ministry of State Security) cross-trained with RPA

Front Commands and the Combined Arms Armies¶

The RPA is structured under regional Front Commands, each of which controls one or more Combined Arms Armies:

Front Command	Combined Arms Armies	Principal role
Western Front Command	1st CAA "Zelenrud", 2nd CAA "Frontier", 3rd CAA "Karrud"	Principal operational theater of the Continuation War; the Gorlish offensive (July 2026) and subsequent defensive operations
Southern Front Command	4th CAA "Southern"	ESA joint operations with CSAT; defensive posture along the southern internal frontier
Eastern Command	5th CAA "Eastern"	Choktovakian frontier monitoring; northern border surveillance
Northern Command	29th Light Division + Northern Coastal Defense Brigade	Northern coastal defense; Boreal Ocean coordination with Navy; Northern Tribal Areas security
Central Reserve Command	Strategic Armored Reserve Division, Strategic Artillery Brigade, Strategic Air Defense Brigade, 101st Airborne Division	Strategic reserve under General Staff direct control

Total active line formations: roughly 14–16 line divisions plus the airborne division and the Northern/Southern Command light formations.

Principal formations¶

Armored division¶

The RPA's principal offensive formation. Each armored division typically comprises:

Two armored brigades (T-80U-equipped)
One mechanized infantry brigade (BMP-2M)
One divisional artillery brigade (2S19 Msta-S self-propelled and BM-21 Grad)
One divisional air defense brigade (Buk-M2 + Tor-M1)
Engineer and combat-service-support brigades

The armored division is the doctrinal exploitation arm — broken into the breakthrough by artillery preparation and mechanized infantry assault, then advancing to operational depth.

Motor rifle division¶

The RPA's bulk maneuver formation — Continental-bloc-pattern "motor rifle" rather than the Western "mechanized infantry" label. Each MRD typically comprises:

Three motor rifle brigades (mixed BMP-2 and BTR-80A mounted)
Three divisional artillery brigades
Three divisional air defense brigades
Engineer and CSS brigades

The motor rifle division is the principal infantry force — providing the ground-holding mass that follows armored breakthroughs and absorbs casualties to maintain the operational tempo.

Light division¶

The RPA's lightest formation, fielded by Northern Command (29th Light Division — tundra/arctic) and Eastern Command (27th Light Division — Zharkoh Range adjacent). Less expensive to maintain than full motor rifle divisions; specialized for terrain that does not favor mass armor.

Artillery formations¶

Rakutanian artillery is the largest in Sierra by piece count and the doctrinal centerpiece of the RPA. Each Combined Arms Army fields an Army Artillery Brigade beyond its organic divisional artillery; the Central Reserve Command's Strategic Artillery Brigade controls the heaviest assets (BM-30 Smerch + 9K79 Tochka + 9K720 Iskander, conventional payload only per Sierran Conflict canon).

Massed BM-21 Grad batteries are the iconic RPAF battlefield instrument. Heavier rocket systems (BM-27 Uragan 220mm, BM-30 Smerch 300mm) are division-and-above assets. Tube artillery is dominated by the 2A65 Msta-B 152mm towed system and the 2S19 Msta-S 152mm self-propelled howitzer.

101st Airborne Division "Steppe Eagles"¶

The country's single airborne division and the most prestigious formation in the RPA, tied to the Continental-bloc/Eastern-bloc VDV airborne tradition. Strategic reserve under Central Reserve Command. Three airborne infantry brigades plus airborne artillery, airborne CSS, and an organic Reconnaissance Battalion + Special Operations Battalion. Personnel wear the blue beret of the VDV tradition.

Strike Force GRU¶

Tier-1 special operations forces — deep reconnaissance, direct action, sabotage in enemy rear areas. Substantially smaller than ESA partner CSAT's ash-Shabaq. Four Strike brigades plus a Strike Force Aviation Squadron (Mi-8 special-ops variants). Reports to the General Staff Main Intelligence Directorate (GRU); coordination with airborne and naval SOF is service-distributed rather than unified.

Army Aviation Command¶

Headquartered at Shirvangrad. Operates attack helicopter regiments (Mi-28N Havoc modernized + Ka-52 Alligator modern + Mi-24V legacy reserve), transport helicopter regiments (Mi-17 Hip, Mi-26 Halo), and recon-and-liaison squadrons.

Equipment¶

The RPA's equipment is Continental-bloc-pattern, modernized but conceptually unchanged. The deliberate doctrinal choice has been mass production of modernized late-Cold-War platforms rather than transition to a new generation:

Service rifle: AEK-971 — balanced-action 5.45×39mm assault rifle; the distinctive Rakutanian small-arms choice. Produced at Shirvangrad State Arsenal. Distinguishes the RPAF from CSAT (which has the AR-95 bullpup in priority formations); Rakutania has kept the all-AK small-arms family intact and now produces the AEK-971 as the modern standard.
Main battle tank: T-80U modernized — ~2,800 in service across multiple armored divisions; the mainstay of the RPA armored force. No modern domestic MBT programme — the RPA has chosen to invest in mass production of the modernized T-80U rather than transition to a new platform.
Tracked IFV: BMP-2 — ~3,500 in service; the bulk tracked IFV. Modernized BMP-2M variants (upgraded turret, ATGM integration) in priority formations.
Wheeled IFV/APC: BTR-80A — ~4,000 in service; the bulk wheeled APC across motor rifle divisions.
Self-propelled artillery: 2S19 Msta-S 152mm — ~300 in service; division-level asset.
Rocket artillery: BM-21 Grad 122mm (mass), BM-27 Uragan 220mm, BM-30 Smerch 300mm (Strategic Reserve).
Anti-tank: RPG-7V2 (standard), RPG-29 Vampir (priority formations); Konkurs-M and Metis-M1 ATGMs (bulk); Kornet-EM (priority formations and SOF only).
Air defense: layered ground-based AD — S-300V4 bulk + small S-400 allocation (long-range); Buk-M2/M3 (medium); Tor-M1/M2 + Pantsir-S1 (SHORAD); Igla/Igla-S MANPADS.

Full equipment treatment in Equipment and the equipment catalog at data/equipment/rakutania.json. The canonical Rakutanian rifle squad in tabletop play is detailed in the Fireteam Rulebook §8.3.1.

Recent operations¶

The RPA is currently deployed across the war's principal land theater:

Western Front (1st, 2nd, and 3rd Combined Arms Armies) — the war's principal land front. Currently in defensive posture along the contested Gorlish frontier after the initial summer 2026 offensive was halted and progressively reversed; preparing for projected WDP coalition counter-offensive in spring 2027
Southern Front (4th CAA) — coordination with CSAT forces in the broader Sierran-WDP conflict; defensive posture along the allied internal frontier
Eastern Command (5th CAA) — Choktovakian frontier monitoring; lighter formations
Northern Command — Boreal coastal defense
Strategic Reserve (Central Reserve Command) — partially committed to Western Front rotations; remainder held against potential WDP escalation

Casualties and replacement¶

RPA losses since July 2026 are estimated by foreign intelligence at:

~28,000 KIA
~75,000 WIA
~12,000 captured or missing

These are substantial losses against the pre-war active strength of 420,000. The replacement pipeline is functioning but stretched; conscript training has been compressed (from the pre-war 24-week standard to an accelerated 12-week standard); reserve activations have brought in lower-quality personnel; the qualitative degradation of the force is becoming visible in operational performance.

The RPA's institutional response has been to substitute mass for quality — accept the qualitative degradation in exchange for sustaining operational mass. Whether this trade-off is sustainable through 2027 is one of the major strategic questions of the war.

Reserves and mobilization¶

Reserve force size: ~1.5M+ reservists on the rolls (15-year reserve obligation following 24/36-month active conscript service)
Partial Mobilization (current, since August 2026): selective reserve activation; current peak ~640–700k
Mass Mobilization Drafts (begun late 2026): politically-sensitive draft of older conscript-rotation cohorts to replace combat losses
General Mobilization (not activated): full ~1.8–2M ceiling; held as escalation option with substantial political cost

Territorial security is not provided by a Hemvärn home guard but by the Border Guards Service under the Ministry of State Security plus the MoSS Internal Troops.

Historical highlights¶

The RPA's institutional history spans:

The 1973–74 Revolution — the RPA emerged from the Messoman imperial army and the revolutionary militias of the period
The 1970s–80s Continental-bloc phase — consolidation as a Continental-bloc-pattern mass conscript army
The 1990s–2000s sanctions-era modernization — continued investment despite economic stagnation
The 2010s armor and artillery modernization tranche — T-80U fire control upgrades, ERA improvements, Msta-S induction, S-300V4 fielding
The Continuation War (2026 – ) — the largest combat deployment in the army's history; the principal land force opposing the WDP

The RPA's institutional culture is traditional Continental-bloc — hierarchical, conscript-heavy, officer-dominated, with limited NCO empowerment relative to WDP norms. The cultural pattern has been a persistent operational weakness against more flexible WDP formations.