Contractual Military Service Age Limit to Change with Different Thresholds

The Armenian government has presented proposals regarding the draft law developed by the 'Enlightened Armenia' faction, which aims to raise the age limit for contractual military service to 63 years. The government has suggested establishing different age thresholds for various ranks of officers and soldiers.

According to Armenpress, the draft law on amendments to the 'Military Service and Status of Servicemen' law received a positive conclusion in the National Assembly's Standing Committee on Defense and Security.

Current legislation does not allow for the involvement in and serving of contractual military service after the age of 45 in one case, and after 40 in another. The Enlightened Armenia faction proposed raising this threshold to 63 years.

During the discussions from the first to the second reading, the government suggested establishing different age thresholds for various officer and soldier ranks, as noted by faction member Gevorg Gorgisyan, who added that the proposal is acceptable for the Enlightened Armenia faction as it maintains the trend of raising the age limit.

Citizens under 40 male who have not previously served in contractual military service can take part in contractual military service in the armed forces and other forces. The LHK suggested setting the limit at 63 years, while the government proposed 45. For individuals registered in the reserve as junior soldiers or junior officers, the previous limit of 45 years was in place. The government proposed raising it to 50 years.

According to the government’s proposal, the age limit for junior junior officer and senior junior officer categories in contractual military service is changing from 45 to 50, for junior officer categories from 48 to 52, for senior officer categories, namely majors and lieutenant colonels from 50 to 55, and for the senior officer category of colonels from 55 to 58. The thresholds for higher ranks remain unchanged.

The government has also proposed other changes to the age thresholds. The draft was accepted in the first reading during the National Assembly session on March 25.