The Armed Forces of Central Asia

Session Submission Type: Roundtable

Brief Description

Central Asia is rapidly re-emerging as a key theatre in global security competition, as regional and global powers manoeuvre for strategic footholds across the five republics. This panel presents new findings from The Armed Forces of Central Asia, a forthcoming 1200+ page compendium developed by the Oxus Society. Drawing on a year-long collaborative research effort by defence analysts, regional specialists, investigative journalists, and military experts, the project offers the most comprehensive open-source assessment of the region’s defence and security architecture to date. The panel will walk through core components of the report, covering everything from order of battle data and procurement trends to command hierarchies, military doctrine, conscription models, and the fiscal pressures shaping defence policy in Central Asia. It will also present the Oxus Society’s publicly accessible interactive map, which geolocates nearly 3,500 military and security sites across the region. Additionally, panellists will also share the results of a series of expert-led wargames designed to test how key regional flashpoints would currently unfold, including likely outcomes and escalation dynamics under a variety of real-world scenarios. This level of granular, consolidated defence analysis is typically reserved for just diplomatic briefings or intelligence circles, however, Oxus is proud to present the key findings of this world-class research in a panel featuring the project’s lead researcher, editor, and the Director of the Oxus Society

Sub Unit

• Politics/Law

Chair

• Edward Lemon, Texas A&M U

Roundtable Speakers

• Derek Bisaccio, Forecast International

• Michael S Coffey, College of Southern Maryland

• Michael Hilliard, Oxus Society for Central Asian Affairs