Starting from the 2025 winter draft, the duration of mandatory military service in Armenia will be reduced by six months. Defense minister Suren Papikyan announced this during the debates on the bill on amendments to the Law on Military Service and the Status of Servicemen at Thursday’s National Assembly session.

The amendment to the aforesaid law provides for a reduction in the duration of mandatory service in Armenia through an increase in the number of contract servicepersons. According to the defense minister, active steps have been taken in recent years to expand contract military service in the country.

Papikyan lauded the respective results achieved, which, according to him, contribute to increasing the appeal and expansion of contract military service in Armenia.

For this reason, the government has deemed it appropriate to reduce the 24-month mandatory military service term for the rank-and-file to 18 months, starting from the 2025 winter draft. Also with the adoption of these changes, the costs of mandatory military service in Armenia is expected to decrease, starting from the second half of 2027. This is because the mandatory military service term that begins in January 2026 will end in July 2027.

Papikyan added that this initiative is in line with the country’s strategic documents, including its strategic transformation by 2050 and the government’s 2021–2026 program.

In addition, due to a number of organizational changes in some units, it has become possible to redistribute the workload so that conscripts engage not in combat duty but, for example, in training.

The defense minister recalled that the leave periods for conscripts have been extended. Previously, it was 10 days for privates and 15 for sergeants. Now, however, servicepersons performing combat duty receive 30 days of leave, while all others receive 21 days, not counting incentive leave.

In 2025, a total of 16,000 reservists were called up for military training. But in 2026 and beyond, 20,000 reservists are planned to be called up annually.

The draft law on the reduction of the mandatory military service term in Armenia has been under discussion since 2021. Initially, it was planned to be implemented in the summer of 2026, but on October 21, Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan announced that this change would come into effect on January 1, 2026.