The army of the khan was composed of Nogay people and the palace guards as well as the tribal forces that were subject to the princes that we have stated above. The Nogay forces brought by the chief commanders of Kuban, Yedisan and Bucak were composed of tribal forces that acted under the command of their princes. The palace guards were the brigades of guards that earned salaries that were paid by the khan. When Sahib Giray was sent to the Crimea in the capacity of the khan appointed by Istanbul in the year of 1532, he was equipped by the ruler against his rivals with a force composed of 60 artillerymen, 300 cuirassiers, and 1.000 soldiers and 40 policemen, 30 sergeants and 60 landlords that possessed feoffs and large fiefs for the first time in the history. The chief squadron commander that was the chief commander of soldier squadrons would participate in the assemblies of the divan; but he did not have a right to vote.
The cavalrymen that formed the main section of the Crimean forces were strict followers of the traditions and they did not demanded firearms. The Ottoman State did not want the khanate to possess a squadron of artillerymen due to the allegations and claims that sometimes arose with claims over Kefe. Nevertheless, the Ottoman artillery forces from Kefe had sometimes joined the Crimean army and helped them. The war techniques described by Boronovius, Baron de Tott, etc. consisted of the continuation of the Turkish-Mongolian traditions with the procedures of rapid blockade through branches and sudden raids. The Crimean soldier who participated in the military expedition with a pair of horses was the fastest cavalryman of the period and they had performed the same service as that of the raiders in the Ottoman armies since the century XVI.
The Crimean people would organise destroying attacks towards the Russian lands in order to suppress the Russians under pressure and to attenuate them. Against this threat, the defence system based on several castles that were constructed by the Tsardom in the southern borders were not sufficient enough to repulse these attacks at any time. These military expeditions that were organised towards Russia and Poland would take place when the rivers got frozen in the winters.