The First Order Army functioned as the ground-based military component of the First Order military. This army not only maintained order within the First Order's territories but also played a key role in the invasion and settlement of the Unknown Regions. Departing from the Galactic Empire's draft system, the First Order adopted a strategy of abducting and brainwashing children from across the galaxy to rapidly build a formidable army. The isolation of the Unknown Regions allowed the First Order to effectively train and transform these abducted children into devoted stormtroopers, fiercely loyal to the Supreme Leader.
The First Order's military buildup was a violation of the Galactic Concordance, an agreement that led to the dismantling of the Imperial Military after the Galactic Civil War. However, this rearmament continued as the New Republic tried to prevent the Cold War from escalating into open conflict. Due to the Galactic Senate's reluctance to risk another large-scale galactic war, Senator Leia Organa established the Resistance to stand against the First Order's growing power. Following the destruction of the New Republic through the Hosnian Cataclysm in 34 ABY, the First Order Army dropped the pretense of being a defensive force and began a campaign to conquer the galaxy, initially under the command of Supreme Leader Snoke. Later, Kylo Ren, the Supreme Leader's dark side apprentice, seized control of the First Order Army by assassinating Snoke during the Battle of Oetchi. By using the Force to coerce General Armitage Hux, Ren secured the Army under his control as the new Supreme Leader of the First Order.
Besides Ren, the First Order Army was also under the command of Allegiant General Enric Pryde, whose position granted him authority over both the Army and the First Order Navy. Under Ren's leadership, the First Order's forces successfully conquered much of the galaxy. Yet, the First Order lacked the necessary resources to completely subdue the remaining resistance until the discovery of the Sith Eternal cult's secret army of Sith troopers and a large fleet on the planet Exegol. Ren intended to integrate the Sith cultists' forces with his own to achieve total control over the galaxy, transforming the First Order into a true empire. However, following the Battle of Exegol, the Sith Eternal military was decimated, leading to a widespread rebellion against the First Order across the galaxy.
In the aftermath of the Galactic Empire's defeat at the Battle of Jakku and its surrender through the signing of the Galactic Concordance, the First Order, along with its military, gradually took shape in the Unknown Regions, where it secretly planned its resurgence. The First Order Army was an evolution of the Imperial Army, the former ground forces of the "Old Empire." This Army was tasked with maintaining order in First Order-controlled space and overseeing the colonization efforts in the Unknown Regions.
The First Order utilized propaganda as a tool to instill loyalty in its soldiers from an early age, fostering unwavering devotion to the First Order and its Supreme Leader. General Armitage Hux regarded his troops as highly disciplined and dependable, attributing this to their lifelong indoctrination.
During the Cold War, the stormtroopers of the First Order Army engaged the Resistance in various conflicts and operations, including a failed mission on Ovanis to locate Lor San Tekka, an explorer who possessed a fragment of the map to Skywalker, a holographic star map leading to the missing Jedi Master Luke Skywalker. First Order soldiers clashed with Resistance pilots on Spalex after the pilots discovered them harassing the local population. Additionally, stormtroopers suppressed the strike at Pressy's Tumble.
The First Order Army also fought against other adversaries, such as the Benathy. During the Benathy expansion into Wild Space, a substantial First Order ground force consisting of stormtroopers and All Terrain Armored Transports, led by First Order Warlord Kylo Ren, was deployed to the Benathy homeworld of Benath to halt their expansion. Following a decisive battle, the Benathy's "god," a Zillo Beast, was defeated by the First Order, and the Benathy kingdom surrendered to the Order.
On another occasion, Kylo Ren led the First Order Army in a massacre on the planet Tehar. The only survivors were Kel and Eila, who sought refuge on the Colossus space station orbiting the planet Castilon. There, they encountered Resistance spy Kazuda Xiono, who informed the Resistance leadership about the First Order Army's activities and Ren's involvement.
In 34 ABY, First Order stormtroopers were deployed during the attack on Tuanul in an attempt to secure the map that led to Jedi Master Luke Skywalker. The First Order Army was commanded by General Armitage Hux, who also oversaw Starkiller Base. Significant First Order army forces, including walkers, were stationed on the icy planet, which also served as a superweapon. The First Order Army, along with other branches such as the First Order Navy, played a role in the construction of this massive superweapon.
The First Order engineered a pirate kidnapping of Colossus resident Torra Doza, using it as justification to establish a small security detail of stormtroopers to occupy the Colossus, although the force's numbers grew substantially over time. Shortly after the occupation began, the First Order used Starkiller Base to destroy the Hosnian system, including the New Republic capital of Hosnian Prime. Following this, Colossus resistance forces, led by Xiono and former Rebel pilot Jarek Yeager, ousted the First Order occupation forces and took the Colossus into uncharted space. In the aftermath of Hosnian Prime's destruction, First Order stormtroopers also engaged the Resistance during the Battle of Takodana in a failed attempt to capture the Resistance astromech droid BB-8, who possessed the map to Luke Skywalker. The First Order military suffered heavy losses during the Battle of Starkiller Base, where their superweapon was ultimately destroyed by the Resistance, including significant stormtrooper casualties. As the First Order advanced to conquer the galaxy and suppress the Resistance, it had ten thousand combat-ready troops available.
The First Order Navy, led by its flagship, the Supremacy, pursued the Resistance fleet using hyperspace tracking technology from their base in the Ileenium system to the Oetchi system. First Order stormtroopers intercepted Resistance agents Rose Tico and Finn as they attempted to disable the tracker. Tico and Finn were about to be executed in the hangar when the Resistance flagship, the Raddus, rammed into the First Order fleet. A battle broke out in the burning hangar, resulting in the death of the stormtroopers' leader, Captain Phasma. Also on the Supremacy, Kylo Ren usurped control of the First Order Army from General Hux shortly after assassinating Supreme Leader Snoke. Hux initially protested Ren's actions, questioning Ren's authority to command his Army, to which Ren responded by using the Force choke ability against him, forcing the General to pledge allegiance to the First Order Army's new Supreme Leader. Ren's ascent to power left Hux isolated and stripped of much of the influence he had gained under Snoke's rule. During his reign, Ren promoted the career of Allegiant General Enric Pryde, granting the former Imperial officer the authority to command both the First Order Army and Navy.
The remaining Resistance forces retreated to the planet Crait, seeking refuge in an abandoned rebel base. In the ensuing Battle of Crait, significant First Order ground forces, including stormtroopers, snowtroopers, AT-ATs, AT-STs, All Terrain MegaCaliber Six walkers, All Terrain Heavy Haulers, and a Superlaser siege cannon, assaulted the Resistance outpost on Crait. The Resistance was overwhelmed and suffered heavy losses, but the last survivors escaped due to the appearance of Jedi Master Luke Skywalker, who was secretly just a Force projection. His former master's appearance distracted Supreme Leader Ren and bought enough time for the Resistance to escape, though the battle would still end in the death of Luke Skywalker. A large group of stormtroopers led by Ren entered the Resistance base, but it was too late, and the surviving Resistance fighters jumped to hyperspace on their ship, the Millennium Falcon.
Despite the Resistance's escape from Crait, the First Order seized control of a large portion of the galaxy, becoming an Empire in all but name. However, the First Order lacked the resources of its predecessor, the Galactic Empire, leaving several free worlds unconquered by 35 ABY. This situation changed when Ren discovered the hidden Sith world of Exegol, where the Sith Eternal had developed an army of elite Sith troopers and a fleet of planet-destroying Star Destroyers. Ren believed that the Sith cult's forces, combined with his remaining First Order forces, would enable him to rule the First Order as a true empire.
Concurrently, Ren focused on his objective to turn Jedi Padawan Rey to the dark side of the Force, having learned of her ancestry as the granddaughter of Sith Lord Darth Sidious. After tracking Rey and her Resistance allies to the planet Pasaana, Ren dispatched a contingent of the First Order's ground forces, including jet troopers, stormtroopers, and treadspeeder bikes, along with the Knights of Ren, to capture her. Jet troopers riding treadspeeders pursued Rey and her comrades Poe Dameron, Finn, Chewbacca, C-3PO, and BB-8 through the desert, sustaining casualties.
The First Order-Resistance War concluded with the First Order's defeat. The Sith Eternal's forces were annihilated by the Resistance and the Citizens' Fleet in the Battle of Exegol, after which the First Order's remaining forces were attacked on various worlds in a galaxy-wide revolt against the First Order.
The First Order Army was structured into various units such as corps, legions, divisions, battalions, companies, garrisons, and squads. The FN Corps was trained under Captain Phasma and was regarded as the elite unit of their class. The 709th Legion served as Supreme Leader Kylo Ren's personal unit and was deployed to Batuu during the First Order-Resistance War. Company 77 was a stormtrooper company that deserted during the Battle of Ansett Island. Kylo Ren and Captain Phasma both commanded their own divisions during the Cold War and the First Order-Resistance War. Garrisons within the army included the Colossus garrison and the Kijimi garrison. The 105th Battalion was a unit of Sith troopers under the command of Kylo Ren and the Knights of Ren. Squads in the army included CS-Squad and Wulfgar Kath's squad.
The First Order army primarily consisted of stormtroopers, drawing inspiration from the Galactic Empire's stormtroopers and the clone troopers of the Galactic Republic. First Order stormtroopers represented the newest generation of white-armored soldiers during the New Republic Era. The First Order trained its soldiers from birth, employing combat simulations and live-fire exercises to foster battlefield adaptability, contrasting with the Empire's standardized training, which produced soldiers considered less formidable than their First Order counterparts.
Aside from the standard infantry unit, the First Order army deployed various specialized stormtroopers, including snowtroopers equipped with armor for cold environments, SCUBA troopers with specialized armor for underwater missions, megablaster heavy assault troopers wielding heavy weapons, flametroopers armed with flamethrowers, riot control stormtroopers tasked with maintaining order on First Order planets, rocket troopers serving as aerial infantry, executioner troopers responsible for executing traitors, and First Order stormtrooper gunners. The First Order Army had at least one battalion of Sith troopers and Sith Jetpack Troopers at its disposal, the 105th Battalion.
The Army employed specialized stormtroopers for covert operations. First Order Raiders were highly skilled hunters tasked with acquiring Sith artifacts for Supreme Leader Kylo Ren. The First Order Special Forces had a stormtrooper variant that operated elite speeder bikes for high-stakes missions.
Other roles within the army included First Order officers and the specialized vehicle commanders, First Order Walker Drivers, engineers, and gunners.
Both infantry and armored units were led by trained officers. Stormtroopers used pauldrons to indicate their rank. Squad leaders wore white pauldrons, sergeants wore black, and officers wore red. The trooper Pyre held the rank of commander and co-commanded a Resurgent-class Star Destroyer, the Thunderer. The Allegiant General commanded both the army and navy of the First Order.
The First Order Army utilized a wide array of walkers to dominate the battlefield. Walkers in the army included the All Terrain MegaCaliber Six, a weapon that combined siege capabilities with psychological warfare due to its intimidating presence and its MegaCaliber Six turbolaser cannon capable of quickly ending sieges, the First Order All Terrain Armored Transport, the All Terrain Heavy Hauler, the All Terrain Mobile Artillery, the First Order All Terrain Scout Transport, the All Terrain Patrol Droid, the All Terrain Heavy Scout, the mobile assault walker, All Terrain Reconnaissance Transports, the spider walker, and the Urban Assault Triped Transport.
In addition to legged walkers, the First Order employed repulsorcraft technology and treaded vehicles. Speeders used by the Army included the elite speeder bike used by the First Order Special Forces, the 125-Z treadspeeder bike, which offered superior traction on uneven terrain, the Light Infantry Utility Vehicle, BARC speeders, a speeder bike ridden by Agent Terex on at least one occasion, and a transport speeder used by flametroopers.
The Army was equipped with a superlaser siege cannon, which functioned as an artillery weapon. This cannon was towed by All Terrain Heavy Haulers. The AT-MA was a mobile artillery piece stationed on Starkiller Base and Star Destroyers.
The standard firearm issued to First Order stormtroopers was the F-11D blaster rifle. In addition, stormtroopers employed the DLT-19D heavy blaster rifle. While First Order officers and stormtroopers both utilized the SE-44C blaster pistol, First Order officers also frequently carried the RK-3 blaster.
The Army's stormtroopers had access to several heavy weapons, including the FWMB-10 repeating blaster and its variant, the FWMB-10K. They also used the F-Z0 antipersonnel blaster cannon, which was mounted on transports, the smart rocket, and G125 projectile launchers used by jet troopers, as well as the D-93 Incinerator flamethrower used by flametroopers.
The Army was also supplied with melee weapons, and these included the Z6 riot control baton, the electroprod, the BL-155 Laser ax, the electrostaff, the riot shield, and the vibro-knife. Equipment used by the Army included quadnoculars, jump packs, NJP-900 integrated jetpack, pauldrons, and thermal detonators.
Hiroyuki Imaishi, who directed the Star Wars: Visions short "THE TWINS," stated that the Galactic Empire depicted in the short was formed by remnants of the First Order Army, mistakenly referred to as the "Imperial Army," following the events of Star Wars: Episode IX The Rise of Skywalker.