Countries Ranked by Military Strength (2016)

[Bornubus]

That's actually embarrassing from an indian POV. india is a nation that itself is at least 7 times bigger than Pakistan population wise. india has always had access to the world's most advanced weapons and the backing of the world's most powerfulest nations. Whether it happened in 1971, 1981, 1991, 2001 or 2011, bangladesh's seperation from Pakistan was always enevitable as bangladesh was 1000s of kms away from Pakistan and has nothing in common with us. In 1971 the bengalis got their opportunity. Now bangladesh and india combined means that Pakistan was fighting an enemy 10 times it's size. Impossible odds that no nation can overcome. Yet Pakistan survived and is still here. 1971 is nearly 50 years ago and things have drastically changed since then. The reality is that the indian military high command are aware of this that is why they didn't attack Pakistan after 2001 parliament attacks and mumbai attacks in 2008.

There are few flaws in your posts.Before the late 90s India never had access to any military tech comparable with Pak.

Pak was the first nation in south Asia which operated Submarine (Ghazi was 1st in SA),F 104 star fighter,M 47 Patton which was the beat tank in the world,155 mm artillery guns,Semi Auto rifles and M 113 APC in 1965 .Pak also operated maritime reconnaissance aircrafts in 70s.

Even in 80s, PAF induced F 16,AH 1 cobra which outclassed Mig 21 a point defense fighter in Indian service as Might 29 was induced only in late 80s.US also offered M1 Abrams to pak.

There are several such examples like Artillery locating Radar AN TPQ 36 which we didn't had in Kargil.

 

[true]

1. USA
2. China
3. Russia
4. Germany
5. Japan
6. Britain
7. France
8. India
9. Turkey
10. South Korea

1. USA
2.Taiwan
3. Russia
4. china

its funny how everyone is a self declared expert who believe they hold a higher CREDIBILITY than GFP

 

[PAKISTANFOREVER]

During the war of 71,they had sent a cbg fleet which was intercepted by Russian Navy
They considered you as their allies then which has changed now

A lot has been said about the above. That fleet was scheduled to be in the indian ocean before the events of 1971. It was a coincidence. Their presence however was irrelevant because they would NEVER EVER come to Pakistan's defence. If america WAS really Pakistan's ally then why did they block their supplies of spare parts to Pakistan's fighter jets and tanks? This along with the fact we were up against an enemy 10 times our size was confirmation that the americans were in reality NOT on Pakistan's side. Since that day Pakistan decided to be firmly in China's camp and to become a nuclear weapons state.

 

[911]

and has nothing in common with us

By that logic Punjabi, Sindhi, Baloch and Pashtun shouldn't be under one country. What do they have in common except religion? Bengalis were playing in your sports teams till 1971. They follow Islam. Pakistan was created for Muslims of India. And you say nothing common . Bengalis were the reason you got Pakistan.

 

[PARIKRAMA]

I dont think we are going for the 4 LPD/LHD anytime sooner
@PARIKRAMA

I wont be surprised if we now lean far more on France and Russia and put most of the US stuff back to long long negotiations...

LPD/LHD needs helos in huge numbers and in the IN thread a lengthy discussion did happen. I remember @Abingdonboy and i both were of the opinion that helos in numbers are needed first for critical ASW fleet and for our existing surface fleet...

So LHD/LPD cant come in any time soon unless all the helos for existing requirement is more or less met and finalised... and that is a very huge number... S70B itself is so limited numbers and on top its not even signed. just 16.. whereas we need 120+ ... When all these are satisfied then it makes sense to see if we need LPD/LHD..

 

[PAKISTANFOREVER]

There are few flaws in your posts.Before the late 90s India never had access to any military tech comparable with Pak.

Pak was the first nation in south Asia which operated Submarine (Ghazi was 1st in SA),F 104 star fighter,M 47 Patton which was the beat tank in the world,155 mm artillery guns,Semi Auto rifles and M 113 APC in 1965 .Pak also operated maritime reconnaissance aircrafts in 70s.

Even in 80s, PAF induced F 16,AH 1 cobra which outclassed Mig 21 a point defense fighter in Indian service as Might 29 was induced only in late 80s.US also offered M1 Abrams to pak.

There are several such examples like Artillery locating Radar AN TPQ 36 which we didn't had in Kargil.

After the creation of Pakistan in 1947, the british gave all their high tech and best military equipment to the indian army and left virtually nothing for Pakistan. india also procurred from western and Soviet sources nuke reactors in the 50s/60s. india had a nuke capability since the late 1960s. A nation that is at least 7 times more smaller than india having 1 submarine or 10 fighter jets that maybe slightly ahead of what indians may have had will make no difference whatsoever especially when Pakistan did not indigenously produce them themselves. Reality is that since their creations, india has been given the tools by the west and russia to be technologically and scientifically sound wheras Pakistan hasn't.

 

[Bornubus]

After the creation of Pakistan in 1947, the british gave all their high tech and best military equipment to the indian army and left virtually nothing for Pakistan. india also procurred from western and Soviet sources nuke reactors in the 50s/60s. india had a nuke capability since the late 1960s. A nation that is at least 7 times more smaller than india having 1 submarine or 10 fighter jets that maybe slightly ahead of what indians may have had will make no difference whatsoever especially when Pakistan did not indigenously produce them themselves. Reality is that since their creations, india has been given the tools by the west and russia to be technologically and scientifically sound wheras Pakistan hasn't.

Wrong again,it was Canadians not soviets who gave us first reactor Cyrus and it has no military dimension either.

You are yet to prove which military hardware was given to us by west or Russians which was superior to Pak before 2000 ?

 

[PAKISTANFOREVER]

By that logic Punjabi, Sindhi, Baloch and Pashtun shouldn't be under one country. What do they have in common except religion? Bengalis were playing in your sports teams till 1971. They follow Islam. Pakistan was created for Muslims of India. And you say nothing common . Bengalis were the reason you got Pakistan.

This has been discussed a 1000 times on PDF and your points above have been disproved many times. It also doesn't negate the fact that apart from Islam, the bengalis differ to Pakistanis MASSIVELY in every other way. The core of the matter is that 2 nations not connected to one another by land is virtually impossible to maintain. It would actually be easier for Pakistan to form 1 nation with Iran and stay united than with bangladesh.

 

[Aero]

Because it is a wishlist.

Why is Pakistan below Turkey. Pakistan has nukes. Why are Japan and Israel missing?

 

[The BrOkEn HeArT]

Top 5 are unbeatable without doubt. I think Pakistan should be at 12 place as Pakistan has a large standing army and good air force too. 17th place is just injustice to Pakistan.

 

[PARIKRAMA]

+++
About the topic in hand, there are some ambiguity of course...

• But in all practical sense the economic might of top countries particularly last 2 decades of economic growth had helped few consolidate top positions.. For example China growth has helped it bridge the gap between herself and Russia and in coming years that should see China cross Russia and become Second..
• USA will remain #1 for at least another decade and half or may be more owing to the gap in a technological advancement and its humongous MIC.
• In all sense the beyond top 3 surprise contenders would be India, France, Germany, Israel, Turkey, Japan and Pakistan.. These ranks would keep shuffling... Primarily France already is an accomplished economy but is battling slowdown yet its Def spending is pretty robust..
• Germany is slowly but surely reviving its military but not very aggressively and is in sync with its economic growth
• Israel continues to be investing a lot of technological advancement in defensive Shield and sword strategy.. This front is perhaps one of the highest across the globe in terms of spending and research.
• Turkey slowly is getting out of NATO shadow and establishing a robust Military modernisation plan.
• Japan is changing fast.. Mr Abe is definitely going to increase military spending.. Important to look out from where Japanese investments gives them the returns as their own internal economy is not growing in a great pace.. on yop being a close USA ally has some restriction.
• Pakistan here is the best chance.. IF they take some good corrective action and build a economy where growth from today can add at least 2% more every year the increase in even 0.5% additional spending in military might can help her a lot
• For India its all about sustaining economic growth +decision on time+ implementation.. If she does that then her being a economy to watch for next 2 decades can help her build a huge military in all wings (IAF,IN and IA)..
• I personally see next 2 decades may see top 4 comprising of far more powerful China, Russia and India..

So practically these 10 countries are the countries which should ideally occupy the top 10 slots..

Sadly UK i dont count her prowess too much owing to various reasons.. One chief being past glory and present economy wont let it sustain a top 10 slot for long Outside top 10 between 11-15 i see countries like UK, South Korea, Australia, Italy and Saudi Arabia...

16-20 should see Italy, Norway, Iran, Singapore and Indonesia.

The surprise package can be Iran with so much money power now it can definitely take a much deeper modernization plan which will see it moving to 11-15 rank in a decade.

Note i have not ranked any country rather i have bucketed them in different ranks.. i cannot rank them outright as parameters and scoring logic needs far more data which is not available..

These are personal opinions.. of course..

 

[xunzi]

if u keep quality in mind surely i can agree to most of ur rankings...but quantity is also sort of quality...and i can see india moving up 1-2 spaces(quality+quanity)....though many indians will disagree with ur rankings as they are used to listening india @4 ...i agree to most of it

You have a lot of potential but right now, India is simply not strong enough for me to put above Britain and France, two country with good population and strong industrial strength. So #8 is the best spot right now.

As far as military industry and equipment is concerned your list is OK.

But in a war numbers count more than anything specially when the gap is significant take a hypothetical example of a war with German and India with latter has a standing army of more than 1.3 million (excluding reserves) against a meagere 100k - 200kk forces.

It just need a single successful maneuver to trap few Divisions and Brigades which will eventually broke the back or led to the surrender of thousands.

Don't mistake Germany docile with weakness. Germany is like a domestic cat but they still have predatory instinct. They just manage and contain it. That's why despite France being a more active military power than Germany, but we all know Germany would defeat France.

1. USA
2.Taiwan
3. Russia
4. china

its funny how everyone is a self declared expert who believe they hold a higher CREDIBILITY than GFP

Stop getting butthurt.

 

[Piper]

USA will remain #1 for at least another decade and half or may be more owing to the gap in atechnological advancement and its humongous MIC

US would remain numero uno for this century atleast barring thermo nuclear destruction of the complete civilization.

Most people fail to realize the gap b/w US and the rest of the world and the cold blooded hyper pragmatic determination of US to keep it that way.

 

[Vergennes]

A big lol to u. How can UK and France even when combined can "invade" India? Its not medieval periods where armies can travel long distances uncontested and fight with some other king.
There is no scope for an war. UK and France. cannot defeat India simple as that.

As for India invading them, there is no scope. We do not have such a large navy for that.

Ur reply is so much of fantasy.

I think India and France have too much interest to destroy each others tomorrow..... France isn't going to war against anyone,but if one day India goes mad and attack France :
1st : You don't have the capabilities of sending an expeditionary army.
2nd : War against France,means war against NATO,means war against US,UK etc.
3rd : M51............. ASMP/A.....
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BTW,you'll realize soon that you don't win a war (like in the past) with tons of soldiers,you'll realize that to equip well your army,you'll have to reduce your size (As the Chinese are currently doing and will continue to do.),a war,or at least quick battles are won by smaller highly mobile,well trained and modern forces....