After the Bicesse Accords in 1993, the FAPLA were transformed into the Angolan Armed Forces (Forças Armadas de Angola, FAA), by the integration of UNITA and FALA members.

After 1972, however, the EPLA's effectiveness declined following several Portuguese victories, disputes with National Liberation Front of Angola (FNLA) forces, and the movement of about 800 guerrillas from Zambia to the Republic of Congo.

In August 1974, a few months after a military coup d'état had overthrown the Lisbon regime and proclaimed its intention of granting independence to Angola, the MPLA announced the formation of FAPLA,[4] which replaced the EPLA.

This transformation was gradual until the Soviet-Cuban intervention and ensuing UNITA insurgency, when the sudden and large-scale inflow of heavy weapons and accompanying technicians and advisers quickened the pace of institutional change.

Beginning in 1978, periodic South African incursions into southern Angola, coupled with UNITA's northward expansion in the east, forced the Angolan government to increase expenditures on Soviet military aid.

"[8] The Federal government of the United States said in 1988 that 'FAPLA's military performance was difficult to gauge,' particularly due to opposing propaganda from the different warring parties.

[9] On the one hand, UNITA had extended its range of operations from the remote south-eastern extremities throughout the entire country within a few years of Portugal's withdrawal.

The SADF had occupied parts of southern Angola for extended periods, virtually without contest, for the purposes of resupplying UNITA, intervening on its behalf, conducting reconnaissance flights and patrols, and attacking South-West Africa People's Organisation encampments.

In the late 1980s, Angola's minister of defence publicly called for greater discipline in FAPLA, citing reports of theft, assaults, and drunken military drivers.

It was then forced to fight a counterinsurgency war in the most remote and inaccessible parts of the country over extended lines of communications, without the requisite air or ground transport or logistical infrastructure.

Luanda's resolve and the improved capabilities and performance of its armed forces were among the essential conditions under which South Africa agreed to negotiate its withdrawal from Angola.

The army was renamed the Angolan Armed Forces (Portuguese: Forças Armadas Angolanas (FAA)), losing the close nominal association with the MPLA.

The brigades were generally dispersed in battalion or smaller subunits to protect strategic terrain, urban centers, settlements, and critical infrastructure such as bridges and factories.