Kalay Revolutionary Force

According to its founding statement, the Kalay Revolution Force (KRF) was founded on December 15, 2023, by comrades who had always stood firm and fought with sacrifice throughout the Kalay region's hard journey of armed revolution after the 2021 military coup. It is understood that the KRF was re-formed by members who resigned from Kalay-based defence forces that were formerly under the National Unity Government's Ministry of Defence and from the People's Defence Force's Kalay Special Operations Battalion.

The KRF was formed to completely crush military dictatorship and bring about a just and free new state, and on May 5, 2025, it issued a declaration of policy positions. The KRF believes that this revolution can end the military dictatorship that has oppressed all ethnic peoples for many years. The declaration also states its belief that the revolution is heading toward a free, equal and just new federal democratic union that ends, together with military dictatorship, militarism, chauvinism, narrow nationalism and the condition in which only the strong always win and rule.

The KRF's policy position paper sets out nine political policies and nine military policies. The political policies are:

(1) The KRF understands and accepts the Federal Democracy Charter as the revolutionary roadmap and accepts and trusts the political leadership of the National Unity Consultative Council (NUCC) and the National Unity Government (NUG).

(2) The KRF wants a genuine democratic system that includes an administration the people can always hold to account through a free and fair electoral system, a legislative system that protects the public interest, and a corruption-free and transparent judicial system.

(3) The KRF envisions a new federal democratic union based on a democratic system that protects the interests of ethnic groups and localities and each citizen's personal freedoms and rights, and a federal system based on reducing centralization and on self-government and sharing.

(4) In building a new federal democratic union, the KRF does not in principle oppose at all the formation and emergence of new states or federal units, whether according to the wishes of local people, revolutionary developments or historical reasons.

(5) It regards armed revolution as one method of struggle in ending military dictatorship and its machinery, and armed revolution is the KRF's main method of struggle.

(6) The KRF accepts the CDM movement, mass strikes and the struggles of workers, farmers and students all as people's movements, and believes they are methods of struggle against military dictatorship.

(7) In the interim period before military dictatorship ends, the KRF will cooperate in each stage of building from local people's defence-based administration to law-based administration through a three-pronged approach of "defence, people's movements and administration".

(8) The KRF accepts and believes that, in marching toward a free and fair new state, all organizations must be examined and pass through transitional justice, and will cooperate fully.

(9) Because the civil war results from military dictatorship together with militarism, chauvinism and the idea that only the strong must win, the KRF will take part in ending the civil war and sustaining peace by fighting these and upholding the essence of equity, equality and mutual respect — as stated in the policy declaration.

It designates members of the Myanmar military's military council forces and those mainly involved in the military council's repressive machinery as military targets, and will carry out defence and operations in line with international humanitarian law and international human rights law. It will operate mainly based in the Kalay region and will also move strategically together with armed revolutionary forces in the geographically adjoining Kalay–Kabaw region, the Yaw region and the Chin Hills. The KRF is also seen to have close relations with the Chin Brotherhood and the Kalay Mass Strike Leading Committee, with exchanges of messages and cooperation.

The KRF has a command office as its central command, under which there are support departments for politics, medical corps work, recruitment, finance and logistics, and its battalions and units also sit under the command office. Its military policy also states that the KRF fully believes that security sector reform (SSR) is essential once military dictatorship has completely ended, and envisions that the entire security and defence sector must be wholly under civilian control.

The KRF's military policies state that it will also take part in the NUG Ministry of Defence's nationwide strategic implementation. The KRF is not an armed force under the command of the NUG Ministry of Defence. Its position declaration states that, after the revolutionary (interim) period, it will cooperate fully in the union defence and security sector reform to be launched by the government leading the transitional period.

The KRF took part with other allies in the battle to capture Falam, led by the Chin National Defence Force (CNDF), which began in November 2024; it was involved for the entire five months of fighting, and states that five KRF members were killed and 23 injured. For force-building, it has opened two basic military training courses and continues to operate and fight together with other defence forces in the Kalay region.