The legislative package on reducing the duration of mandatory military service in Armenia was debated on—in the second and final reading—at Monday’s special meeting of the Standing Committee on Defense and Security of the National Assembly (NA).

The bill concerns respective amendments to the “Law on Military Service and the Status of Servicemen.” The bill was presented by Defense Minister Suren Papikyan.

According to this law initiative, starting from the 2025 winter draft, the term of mandatory military service in Armenia will be reduced by six months. The law amendment provides for a reduction in the duration of mandatory service, compensated by an increase in the number of contract servicemen. According to the defense minister, in recent years active steps have been taken aimed at expanding contract military service in Armenia.

For this reason, the government has deemed it appropriate to reduce the 24-month mandatory military service period for rank-and-file personnel by six months, setting a new term of 18 months starting from the 2025 winter draft. The adoption of these changes is expected to also reduce the costs of mandatory military service in Armenia starting from the second half of 2027. This is because the service term starting in January 2026 will end in July 2027.

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

After brief debates, the aforementioned NA standing committee approved this law initiative.