ASEAN Armies Rifle Meet

The ASEAN Armies Rifle Meet (AARM) is an annual rifle, pistol, and machine gun competition between the armies of the member states of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN). Its aim is to foster friendly competition and goodwill between the members' armies, and to give its officers and men the opportunity for professional interaction and to strengthen their social bonds and camaraderie.^[1]

ASEAN Armies Rifle Meet
Status	Active
Genre	Military shooting competition
Frequency	Annual
Location(s)	Rotates among host member states of ASEAN
Years active	33
Founded	1991
Founder	Malaysian Army
Most recent	AARM 2019 (Indonesia) 20 November 2019 - 24 November 2019
Previous event	AARM 2018 (Malaysia) 17 November 2018 - 24 November 2018
Next event	AARM 2022 (Vietnam)
Participants	Royal Brunei Land Force Royal Cambodian Army Indonesian Army Lao People's Army Malaysian Army Myanmar Army Philippine Army Singapore Army Royal Thai Army People's Army of Vietnam
Activity	Rifle match Carbine match Pistol match (Men) Pistol match (Ladies) Machine gun match
Organized by	Association of Southeast Asian Nations

History

The ASEAN Armies Rifle Meet was the brainchild of a Commander-in-Chief of the Malaysian Army, who envisioned the participation of ASEAN armies in a joint military activity.^[2] The inaugural AARM was hosted by Malaysia in 1991^[1] and included Brunei, Indonesia, Philippines, Singapore and Thailand as inaugural competitors.^[3] Malaysia took the first team championship crown that year.

The 2000 AARM was the first event wherein all ten ASEAN member countries participated, coinciding with the inaugural ASEAN Chiefs of Army Multilateral Meeting (ACAMM). The inaugural ASEAN Army Sergeant Majors Annual Meeting (ASMAM) was held 2011. All three meetings have been regular annual events since then.^[3]

Events

The AARM consists of five main match disciplines: rifle, carbine, men's pistol, ladies' pistol, and machine gun.^[4] Each discipline consists of an individual and a team match. The top three in each match are awarded gold, silver and bronze medals. The trophy categories include overall individual champion for each discipline, overall team champion for each discipline, and overall champion in the "falling plate" event for each discipline.^[3]

List of champion states

Indonesia has won the most number of championships since the AARM began in 1991; the Indonesian Army has 14 championships on record, followed by the Royal Thai Army with eight. Malaysia and Singapore have both won three times, while the Philippines and Vietnam was champion once.^[5] Brunei, Cambodia and Laos have yet to win a championship.^[2]

In 2019, a new format for competition was adopted wherein the participating ASEAN member states were grouped into four teams, Team Alligator, Team Bear, Team Cheetah and Team Dragon. Team Alligator emerged as champion that year.^[6]

	Year	Host	Champion
1	1991	Malaysia	Malaysia
2	1992	Indonesia	Indonesia
3	1993	Brunei	Malaysia
4	1994	Thailand	Thailand
5	1995	Philippines	Singapore
6	1996	Singapore	Singapore
7	1997	Malaysia	Malaysia
8	1998	Indonesia	Thailand
9	1999	Brunei	Thailand
10	2000	Thailand	Thailand
11	2001	Philippines	Thailand
12	2002	Singapore	Singapore
13	2003	Malaysia	Thailand
14	2004	Indonesia	Indonesia
15	2005	Brunei	Philippines
16	2006	Vietnam	Indonesia
17	2007	Thailand	Thailand
18	2008	Philippines	Indonesia
19	2009	Singapore	Indonesia
20	2010	Malaysia	Indonesia
21	2011	Indonesia	Indonesia
22	2012	Brunei	Indonesia
23	2013	Myanmar	Indonesia
24	2014	Vietnam	Indonesia
25	2015	Thailand	Thailand[7]
26	2016	Philippines	Indonesia[5]
27	2017	Singapore	Indonesia[8]
28	2018	Malaysia	Indonesia[9]
29	2019	Indonesia	Team Alligator[6]
30	2022	Vietnam	Vietnam[10]
31	2023	Thailand	Indonesia[11]

References

1. Singapore Ministry of Defence (18 October 1996). "SAF tops sixth ASEAN Armies Rifle Meet". Retrieved 23 May 2017.
2. Royal Thai Army (24 March 2015). "Background of ASEAN Armies Rifle Meet". Archived from the original on 6 December 2016. Retrieved 24 May 2017.
3. Ang, Geraldine (13 November 2017). "Fact Sheet: ASEAN Armies Rifle Meet" (PDF). Singapore Ministry of Defence. Retrieved 26 November 2017.
4. Gines, Erika Mariel (8 December 2016). "26th Asean Armies Rifle Meet concludes in Pampanga". SunStar Philippines. Retrieved 23 May 2017.
5. Fonbuena, Carmela (11 December 2016). "Indonesia proves it has best shooters among ASEAN armies". Rappler. Retrieved 23 May 2017.
6. Ministry of Defense Brunei Darussalam. "Closing Ceremony of the 29th ASEAN Armies Rifle Meet 2019". Retrieved 18 November 2020. This year's AARM showcased a new format where 10 ASEAN countries were grouped together into four teams namely Team Alligator, Team Bear, Team Cheetah and Team Dragon. The Alligator team emerged as the overall champion with 6 trophies, 33 gold medals, 26 silver medals and 21 bronze medals, followed by the Bear team at second place with 6 trophies, 32 gold medals, 33 silver medals and 6 bronze medals. The Cheetah team came at third place with 2 trophies, 11 gold medals, 11 silver medals and 41 bronze medals and while fourth place went to Dragon team with 1 medals, 10 gold medals, 16 silver medals and 18 bronze medals.
7. "ASEAN Armies Rifle Meet concludes". Voice of Vietnam. 26 November 2016. Retrieved 24 May 2017.
8. Aw, Cheng Wei (22 November 2017). "Asean armies shoot for trophies - and closer defence ties - at annual rifle competition". The Straits Times. Retrieved 26 November 2017.
9. Hakim, Syaiful (23 November 2018). "Indonesian army wins 28 gold medals at AARM 2018". Antara News. Retrieved 4 December 2018.
10. "PT. Pindad (Persero) - Senjata & Munisi Pindad Dukung Kontingen Petembak TNI AD Raih Juara kedua Lomba Tembak Tingkat ASEAN". pindad.com. Retrieved 2023-03-31.
11. "Indonesia sabet juara umum AARM ke-31 di Bangkok". Antara News. 26 November 2023. Retrieved 26 November 2023.