The Armed Forces of the Republic of Armenia represents the Army, Air Force, Air Defense, and Border Guard. It was partially formed out of the former Soviet Army forces stationed in the Armenian SSR (parts of the Transcaucasian Military District). Being a landlocked country, Armenia has no navy.

The Commander-in-Chief of the military is the President of Armenia, currently Serzh Sargsyan. The Ministry of Defense is in charge of political leadership, currently headed by Seyran Ohanian, while military command remains in the hands of the General Staff, headed by the Chief of Staff, who is currently Lieutenant-General Yuri Khatchaturov. Armenia established a Ministry of Defense on 28 January 1992. Border guards subject to the Ministry patrol Armenia's borders with Georgia and Azerbaijan, while Russian troops continue to monitor its borders with Iran and Turkey. Since 1992, Armenia has been a member of the Collective Security Treaty Organization, which acts as another deterrent to Azeri military intervention over Nagorno-Karabakh.

The Treaty on Conventional Armed Forces in Europe was ratified by the Armenian parliament in July 1992. The treaty establishes comprehensive limits on key categories of military equipment, such as tanks, artillery, armored combat vehicles, combat aircraft, and combat helicopters, and provides for the destruction of weaponry in excess of those limits. Armenian officials have consistently expressed determination to comply with its provisions and thus Armenia has provided data on armaments as required under the CFE Treaty. Despite this, Azerbaijan accuses Armenia of diverting a large part of its military forces to Nagorno-Karabakh and thus circumventing these international regulations. Armenia is not a significant exporter of conventional weapons, but it has provided support, including material, to the Armenians of Nagorno-Karabakh during the Nagorno-Karabakh War.