'Egyptian troops', Coptic: Ⲛⲉⲛⲁⲗⲁⲥⲱϯ ⲛ̀ⲣⲉⲙⲛⲕⲏⲙⲓ) or Al-Askar al-Masri (Egyptian Arabic: العسكر المصري, lit.

[13][14] One of the most important policies of Sultan El-Ashraf Sha'ban was to increase the number of indigenous Egyptians in the regular military corps.

[19][20] It consisted of three squads: The Ajnad al-Halqa (أجناد الحلقة) or simply the Halqa were made up of both Egyptians and Awlad al-Nas (children of the Mamluks).

The Halqa was considered the striking force of the army and its soldiers occupied the first positions of honor in all the various official ceremonies, and their names were side by side with the names of the Emirs in the official ceremonies, especially the oath ceremony upon the Sultan's accession to the throne of the Sultanate, and were under the direct command of the sultan, there was a faction within the Halqa called the Arbab al-Heraf (أرباب الحرف) which was made up of Egyptians only and was similar to modern-day engineering corps.

[7][20][21] The wāfidiyya (الوافدية) were troops of various ethnic backgrounds who came into the military service of the Egyptian Mamluk Sultanate in exchange for asylum.

The term is a collective noun formed from the singular wāfid, meaning "one who comes, makes his way, in a delegation or group".

Large numbers of Kurds and Khwarazmians fled the Mongol conquest of Khwarazmia and took refuge in Egyptian Syria.

[22] Baybars was purportedly frightened by the sudden influx of soldiers seeking asylum and sought to disperse ethnic Mongols throughout the army.

Their supreme leader, Ṭurghāy, received the rank of "emir of forty" (amīr arbaʿīn), perhaps because he was a son-in-law of the Ilkhan Hülegü.

The Oirats remained politically important at the start of the reign of al-Nasir Mahammad bin Qalawun (1309–41), but by 1333 some had been reduced servants (atbāʿ) of the Mamlūks.

The Sultan Kitbughā and the regent Sayf al-Din Salar, both Oirats, had entered Egypt as slaves and risen through the Mamlūk ranks to the highest positions, whereas the Oirat wāfidiyya had entered Egypt as free men and been reduced to servile status within a generation or two.

The Volunteer forces (المتطوعة, المطوعة) were made up of Egyptians only, and they were the ones to whom mobilization calls were directed before any war,[23] and their number alone was often greater than the number of the entire army, according to the testimony of the historian Ibn Taghribirdi:[7]"And the commoners (Volunteer forces) are more than the troops in service.

The Al-Ghozah soldiers were the largest faction in the Egyptian army that participated in the conquest of Cyprus in the year 1426.

Therefore, the government realized the extent of the popular strength of the Harafish group and thus followed a balanced policy towards them, characterized by the use of the least possible means of violence, and taking advantage of them in military campaigns, civil wars, and internal strife.

Khalil bin Qalawun was famous for his love for the Egyptian soldiers in general and considering himself part of them, so he used to share holidays, food, and training with them.

[32][31] Emir Alaa el-Din bin el-Emam brought about a qualitative shift in the Egyptian Navy during the Mamluk era.

Emir Alaa el-Din came up with a smart plan, which was not to build ships in the Red Sea ports because they were under surveillance by the Portuguese.

In 1507, Prince Alaa el-Din bin el-Emam was appointed commander of the Egyptian fleet heading to the port of Jeddah to fight the Portuguese.

[10][11][12] In addition to the soldiers of the Halqa who were present in the camps of the Levant and Hejaz to maintain security and stabilize the Sultanate's influence.

It was also able to liberate the Levant and its coast from the Crusaders and annex it, with the conquest of southern and central Anatolia, including the Armenian Kingdom of Cilicia and the Sultanate of Rum during the reign of Baybars.