The Kenya Defence Forces are the armed forces

Armed forces

The armed forces of a country are its government-sponsored defense, fighting forces, and organizations. They exist to further the foreign and domestic policies of their governing body, and to defend that body and the nation it represents from external aggressors. In some countries paramilitary...

 of the Republic of Kenya

Kenya

Kenya , officially known as the Republic of Kenya, is a country in East Africa that lies on the equator, with the Indian Ocean to its south-east...

. The Kenya Army, Kenya Navy

Kenya Navy

Kenya Navy is the naval branch of Kenyan military forces. It is headquartered in Mombasa. Kenya Navy was established on December 12, 1964, exactly one year after Kenya gained independence. It was preceded by the colonial Royal East African Navy...

, and Kenya Air Force

Kenya Air Force

The Kenya Air Force is the national Air Force of Kenya.The main airbase operating fighters is Laikipia Air Base in Nanyuki, while Moi Air Base in Eastleigh, Nairobi is the HQ & operations Kenya Air Force. Other bases include FOB Mombasa The Kenya Air Force (KAF) is the national Air Force of...

 comprise the national Defence Forces. The current Kenya Defence Forces were established, and its composition laid out, in Article 241 of the 2010 Constitution of Kenya

Constitution of Kenya

The 1963 Constitution of Kenya was drawn up at independence. This constitution, heavily indebted to English law, had already been amended more than 30 times by 2010, but was widely agreed to require a major overhaul...

. The President is the commander-in-chief

Commander-in-Chief

A commander-in-chief is the commander of a nation's military forces or significant element of those forces. In the latter case, the force element may be defined as those forces within a particular region or those forces which are associated by function. As a practical term it refers to the military...

 of all the armed forces.

The military enjoys, in general, a good reputation. It is regularly deployed in peace-keeping missions around the world and generally commended for its professionalism.