1 United States
of America It's manufacturing capabilities coupled with sheer numbers, advanced technology and nuclear capabilities keep the US on top. 48/60

2 Russia Though dwindled since the Cold War, Russia's numbers and nuclear capabilities keep it on top as the second most powerful army in the world. 37/60

3 Israel Manpower, sheer numbers and experience rank the Israeli armies among the top in the world. 35/60

4 Germany Surprising to find Germany this high on the list but it maintains a stellar peacekeeping force for itself - plus it does not maintain any costly overseas stations. 33/60

5 China Overall numbers and the possibility of nuclear capability rank China high on the list, but the fact remains that most of the force is untested in global conflicts, their equipment remains dated and forced conscription takes its toll. 32/60

6 France France maintains units for self-defence and peacekeeping missions of its former colonies. Other than that, its primary force is more for its own protection than anything else, having been invaded by Germany twice in the 20th century. Nonetheless, its nuclear capabilities, strong commitment to maritime and defense, and a steady military keep it in the top ten. 31/60

Pakistan Pakistan's recent experience as a US ally and its build up against India help it score well. It combats internal terrorism regularly but none-the-less maintains support through the US. 31/60

7 South Korea Build up over recent years and following up on their own military technology avenues, South Korea is a major player in todays military world. It's support from the US doesn't hurt its ranking either and the provided equipment and training gives it an edge over its northern aggressor. 30/60

8 Iran Its manpower and supposed nuclear capability rank it in the top ten, but its dated equipment and lack of recent experience bring it out of the top 5. 29/60

India The build up against Pakistan continues but the Indian armies use dated equipment and lack any recent major military engagements. Nuclear probablity helps its rank. 29/60

10 UK (Britain) Once a strong proud world power, the UK maintains a simple fighting force keeping the US as a major ally. It has allocated units in a few global hotspots. 27/60

North Korea Kim's military build up has been impressive and rumors of a nuclear program help its ranking but none-the-less outdated equipment, non-experienced troops and forced military service hinder its ranking. 27/60

12 Italy Italy maintains a strong fighting force and delves more into peacekeeping initiatives than anything else. It remains an average military power at best. 23/60

Greece Greece's spot as a military power is impressive to some degree. Its build up is more for self-defence and protection (presumably against Turkey) than an offensive-minded force. 23/60

Saudi Arabia Saudi Arabia is busy combating internal terrorism as a US ally than needing to do much else with its forces. The territory is vast but made of mostly uninhabitable desert, leaving the pipelines and major cities as the only needs of protection. A few border disputes keep other forces away from potential interior hotspots. Equipment remains mostly US in origin, training is avergae and recent experience is mostly relegated to special forces and police units. 23/60

15 Spain Other than defending against internal Muslim fanatics, Spain maintains a strictly defensive and peacekeeping force. It removed its forces from Iraq after recent elections and has not seen any since. 22/60

16 Australia A capable fighting force with good training, the Australian ranking is low due to numbers and lack of nuclear capability. It assists in peacekeeping missions across the globe and keeps an interest in the Indonesia area. 21/60

Syria The Syrian army is typical of other Middle Eastern forces - outdated equipment and limited recent military experiences. 21/60

18 Egypt See Syria above, though some modernization is occurring. 20/60

Turkey It's formidable numbers help its ranking but internal unrest, some outdated equipment and lack of a nuclear arsenal bring its ranking down. 20/60

Japan A shadow of its former dominant World War 2 self, Japan maintains a simple Self-Defense force. It currently sees more peacekeeping missions than anything else. 20/60

21 Taiwan The buildup to prevent the invetable Chinese invasion continues. Taiwan would naturally rely on help from the US and the international community in the event of an invasion as it maintains a small defenseive force populated by US equipment and support. 19/60

22 Canada Canadian fire power is minimal at best and is striclty used for self-defense with the occasional peacekeeping mission. 17/60

23 Indonesia Recent Muslim insurgency have left this area of the world a hotspot to watch. The Indonesian army is capable but could be stretched too thin. 16/60

24 Brazil No major war in nearly 100 years yet Brazil maintains a large army. The country itself has a large area to cover in military defense. Some border disputes and drug-running are the major action that it could see. 15/60

This list is a fucking joke, right?

Israel, Germany, Pakistan and Iran shouldn't be in the top 10.

"the UK maintains a simple fighting force" - erm. right. We still have one of the world's largest navies (second largest in gross tonnage and quite possibly the second most powerful blue water navy). The RAF is no push-over either. And yes, the British Army and Royal Marines are quite small, but thanks to the amount we spend per soldier and the abilities of the RAF and Royal Navy, they have awesome potential.

The UK also has 4 SSBNs, which carry our ballistic nuclear missiles that can hit any city on Earth. We have fairly large garrisons in Germany, Cyprus, the Falkland Isles and smaller garrisons in Belize, Brunei and Gibraltar. Then there's the rather large presence in Iraq and Afganistan.

Sorry, but your list simply isn't thought out and is based on very basic troop numbers. Try again.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_Armed_Forces

Basic Troop Numbers comprising 18yr old National Service conscripts who would do an average of 2yrs.

Basic Troop Numbers comprising 18yr old National Service conscripts who would do an average of 2yrs.

Exactly.

So many countries around the world include useless conscripts with pathetic training and useless weapons as part of their troop numbers. We on the other hand have 190,000 very well trained, proffessional and armed-to-the-teath personnel in the air force, navy, marines and army. Then we also have our reserve forces, which are voluntary and almost as good as our full-time proffessional forces.

It's more a technology thing than numbers anyway. You can face an enemy with 3times as many tanks as yourself, but if you've got a GR4 equipped with Brimstone to give you a helping hand, you'd have the upper hand.

*edited: Wrong Plane code given. My Flight Lieutenant would have my guts for garters*

Again, exactly.

And with the stuff the UK is getting our position in the world will only rise. Eurofighter, A400M, C-17, JSF F-35, CVF aircraft carriers, Type 45 destroyers, Astute submarines, etc etc etc.

I can't see Isreal, Iran or South Korea having the ability to project their military power outside of their own region either (bar missile strikes), unlike the UK.

But even their missile strikes would be nothing like if we went nuts with our SSBNs... ;)

I would be interested in the source/ratings system used in the list provided.

Guesswork probably.

ie.

"Nuclear probablity helps its rank."

:|

I love how Israel is rated highly for being an experienced army because the British army has had little experience of being in combat over the last two hundred years :crazy:

They also lack force projection, unlike the UK

They also lack a navy :lol:

funny list... very funny. we dont just have technology though, we have training. the classic example was the fakllands, what other modern army could march across a wilderness in near arctic conditions fighting major battles along the way with no armour, no helicopters and almost no artillery? there's no substitute for good old fashioned infantry, something that iraq is showing the americans now. you can have all the tanks and planes in the world, but if you cant control a street in a street fight youre fucked.
the other thing is you might think we have a small army but we dont, unlike almost every country int he world we dont have borders to defend. the end result is we have 100,000 surplus soldiers. when the uk had its empire we had roughly the same manpower in our army as we have now. the BEF in ww1 was only 100,000 strong.

You're quite right gothic. And with the demilitarisation of Northern Ireland, we really will have no need for infantry in terms of defence. The British Army has always been and will be an attacking force.

"what other modern army could march across a wilderness in near arctic conditions fighting major battles along the way with no armour, no helicopters and almost no artillery?"

Let me rephrase that for you...

"what other modern army would march across a wilderness in near arctic conditions fighting major battles along the way with no armour, no helicopters and almost no artillery?"

;)

funny list... very funny. we dont just have technology though, we have training. the classic example was the fakllands, what other modern army could march across a wilderness in near arctic conditions fighting major battles along the way with no armour, no helicopters and almost no artillery? there's no substitute for good old fashioned infantry, something that iraq is showing the americans now. you can have all the tanks and planes in the world, but if you cant control a street in a street fight youre fucked.
the other thing is you might think we have a small army but we dont, unlike almost every country int he world we dont have borders to defend. the end result is we have 100,000 surplus soldiers. when the uk had its empire we had roughly the same manpower in our army as we have now. the BEF in ww1 was only 100,000 strong.

Totally agree.

Since Oliver Cromwell / Charles II time, the British army has predominatly been a small professional army.

I would rank the militaries of the world as follows:

Premier Division "Great powers"

United States - the sole superpower (nuclear)

First Division "Major powers"

Russia - large navy and other left-overs from the USSR (nuclear)
France - decent air force, navy and large (for Europe) army (nuclear)
United Kingdom - well balanced and good quality navy, army, air force and marines (nuclear)

Second Division "Regional powers"

Japan - powerful defensive forces
China - large army, in position of modernising armed forces (nuclear)
Germany - large (for Europe) army with ace tanks
India - large army, decent sized navy and air force too (nuclear)
Australia - good quality armed forces, fairly large navy
Israel - large, hi-tech army and air force (possible nuclear)
Turkey - large army, fairly good air force and navy
Pakistan - large army, growing navy and air force (nuclear)
Iran - large army and air force, though not very modern (possible nuclear)

Third Division "Other powers"

South Korea
Canada - were once a regional power (1940s/50s)
Italy - were once a regional power (1930s/40s)
Netherlands
Taiwan
Saudi Arabia - growing, modern armed forces, financed by oil
North Korea - very large army, but otherwise useless (possible nuclear)
Spain
Indonesia
Norway - decent navy

I would rank the militaries of the world as follows:

Premier Division "Great powers"

United States - the sole superpower (nuclear)

First Division "Major powers"

Russia - large navy and other left-overs from the USSR (nuclear)
France - decent air force, navy and large (for Europe) army (nuclear)
United Kingdom - well balanced and good quality navy, army, air force and marines (nuclear)

Second Division "Regional powers"

Japan - powerful defensive forces
China - large army, in position of modernising armed forces (nuclear)
Germany - large (for Europe) army with ace tanks
India - large army, decent sized navy and air force too (nuclear)
Australia - good quality armed forces, fairly large navy
Israel - large, hi-tech army and air force (possible nuclear)
Turkey - large army, fairly good air force and navy
Pakistan - large army, growing navy and air force (nuclear)
Iran - large army and air force, though not very modern (possible nuclear)

Third Division "Other powers"

South Korea
Canada - were once a regional power (1940s/50s)
Italy - were once a regional power (1930s/40s)
Netherlands
Taiwan
Saudi Arabia - growing, modern armed forces, financed by oil
North Korea - very large army, but otherwise useless (possible nuclear)
Spain
Indonesia
Norway - decent navy

I like that, I would add South Africa to the Third Division. Their armed forces are pretty good. Although they have massive problems with HIV, but they are expects at counter terrorism and Bush warfare.

Israel, Germany, Pakistan and Iran shouldn't be in the top 10
Pakistan definetly deserves to be on that list without a doubt. The country is developing its military ten fold.


Here is the source! Looks like they just recently changed their page...
http://www.globalfirepower.com/ranking.asp

Why Pakistan deserves to be on the list:
Military build up and modernization continues
US ally in War on Terror
Nuclear Capabilities
Adaptable intelligence agency
Experience due to war on terror
Largest UN Peacekeeping force
ICBM's under production
6th or 5th largest army


More reasons(purchases):

Local defence industry growing
defence sales to the middle east
Vera Radars from Ukraine
AWACs from Sweden
F-16's from the United States
4th Generation fighter under review


Deployment:
Kashmir Territorial Dispute with India
Lahore-Punjab Security
Bosnia-Kosovo Peacekeeping
East Timor Peacekeeping
Georgia Peacekeeping
Kuwait Peacekeeping
Somalia Peacekeeping

We still have one of the world's largest navies (second largest in gross tonnage and quite possibly the second most powerful blue water navy).

I thought you were 4th.

1st USA
2nd Russia
3rd China (since 2005, took over UK, Japan, France alltogether)
4th UK
5th Japan
6th France (should take over Japan this year).

China has 424 ships (your link shows 90 commissioned ships for Britain) for 788 870 displacement tons (source is the 2006 report "Flottes de Combats", updated every two years and that's considered very accurate).

Their projection power is limited to near countries though (Taiwan and Japan), but their amphibious capacity is huge.

This link: http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/world/china/navy.htm

Keeps a good record of their ships, as you can see they currently have 25 destroyers, 90 missile guided boats, and most importantly 33 amphibious ships:

They also bought the Russian carrier sistership and are currently working on it. If they enhance it they'll have a 75,000 tons carrier.

China also had two submarine shipyard as we speak and can build them at higher rate. They also got stealth ships now and to put it even deeper their defense budget increased by 14% last year.

Very well, Detritus. In the end China will overtake every nation in every area!!

Pakistan definetly deserves to be on that list without a doubt. The country is developing its military ten fold.


Here is the source! Looks like they just recently changed their page...
http://www.globalfirepower.com/ranking.asp

On that list India and Pakistan are waaay too high up and France is below many countries that it is superior to.

Fair enough...

Russia is more tricky because several boats are at anchors.

Their carrier is though operational, displacing 67,000 tons.

The 2 nuclear powered Kirov cruisers at also operational with 25,000 tons each.

The 3 Slava class cuisers do 10,000 tons each hard to tell if they are all 3 operationals though....

I wont details the destroyers and subs but you get the point.

I would rank the militaries of the world as follows:

Premier Division "Great powers"

United States - the sole superpower (nuclear)

First Division "Major powers"

Russia - large navy and other left-overs from the USSR (nuclear)
France - decent air force, navy and large (for Europe) army (nuclear)
United Kingdom - well balanced and good quality navy, army, air force and marines (nuclear)

Second Division "Regional powers"

Japan - powerful defensive forces
China - large army, in position of modernising armed forces (nuclear)
Germany - large (for Europe) army with ace tanks
India - large army, decent sized navy and air force too (nuclear)
Australia - good quality armed forces, fairly large navy
Israel - large, hi-tech army and air force (possible nuclear)
Turkey - large army, fairly good air force and navy
Pakistan - large army, growing navy and air force (nuclear)
Iran - large army and air force, though not very modern (possible nuclear)
Greece - small in quantity but very high quality, best MBT (Panzer Leopard Hell), splendid air force, powerfull submarine fleet (Type 214)
Sweden - Fantastic air force, very modern equipment, stealth ships.

Third Division "Other powers"

South Korea
Canada - were once a regional power (1940s/50s)
Italy - were once a regional power (1930s/40s)
Netherlands
Taiwan
Saudi Arabia - growing, modern armed forces, financed by oil
North Korea - very large army, but otherwise useless (possible nuclear)
Spain
Indonesia
Norway - decent navy


Added Greece and Sweden. Greece uses the Panzer Leopard Hell, Type 214 subs, Mirage 2000-9 and F-16 Block 52.... it's a very modern force.

Sweden gets 200 Gripens, uses Gotland submarines and Visby corvette. It's a defensive force but one you can't easily play with

Wing Commander.
Staff Sergeant.
Rear Admiral.
Corporal.

Oh, sorry, that's not what you meant...

Well, that's what I was thinking when I first saw the thread title..

Interesting thread...

I don't think Russia should be equated to the UK or France; still largely a conscript army; discipline issues, money only seems to be going into rocket forces and air force, can't fund ships at sea etc etc.

Premier Division "Great powers"

United States - the sole superpower (nuclear)


First Division "Major powers"

United Kingdom - well balanced and good quality navy, army, air force and marines (nuclear)
France - decent air force, navy and large (for Europe) army (nuclear)
Japan - powerful forces with state-of-the-art weaponary (Mitsubishi F15Js, Aegis etc) only bound by peaceful constitution


Second Division "Emerging Large Powers"

Because of the size of China, India, Russia, it's a bit hard to seriously compare them with smaller, albeit equally powerful countries like Germany etc.

China - large army, with a lot of new tech coming in
Russia - still retains a lot of hard-hitting weaponary
India - large army, decent sized navy and air force with force protection capabilities (1 + 2 carriers building)


Second Division "Regional Powers"

Germany - large (for Europe) army with ace tanks
Australia - good quality armed forces, fairly large navy, excellent skill
Israel - large, hi-tech army and air force
South Korea - large, well-funded and highly trained military with top notch technology
Saudi Arabia - large, high-tech (relatively) military with good air force comprising E3Ds, F15s, Tornados
Netherlands - towards the lower-end of scale here but have excellent technology and training, and also deploy a lot to an extent
Belgium - towards the lower-end of scale here but have excellent technology and training, and also deploy a lot to an extent
Sweden - towards the lower-end of scale here but have excellent technology and training, and also deploy a lot to an extent
Brazil - large forces, lack money and access to high technology. can become emering large power in a few decades?
Pakistan - too large that training and skill has been diluted, some access to high-technology weaponary


Third Division "Smaller Regional Powers"

Canada - highly mobile, lacking in size and support, deployed frequently
Italy - more of a colonial protection force
Taiwan - high tech but too small
Spain - ditto as Italy
Turkey
South Africa

What a stupid idiotic baseless list. Who the fick made it up? Any list is incomplete without Afghanistan. Totally silly "ranking". The person who made up this list is extremely biased and has no regards for Afghanistan :rant:.

What a stupid idiotic baseless list. Who the fick made it up? Any list is incomplete without Afghanistan. Totally silly "ranking". The person who made up this list is extremely biased and has no regards for Afghanistan :rant:.

As in the country that got walked over a few years ago. Pehaps it could be included as one of the weakest nations (second behind costa rica).

Russia is more tricky because several boats are at anchors.

Their carrier is though operational, displacing 67,000 tons.

The 2 nuclear powered Kirov cruisers at also operational with 25,000 tons each.

The 3 Slava class cuisers do 10,000 tons each hard to tell if they are all 3 operationals though....

I wont details the destroyers and subs but you get the point.

The Slavas are operational. They're one of the few classes Russia has specifically kept in service at all times. They even make frequent (for Russia) voyages and partake in all major exercises.

As in the country that got walked over a few years ago. Pehaps it could be included as one of the weakest nations (second behind costa rica).


:rofl:.