Top 10 Military Nations

[Chengdu J-10]

Just gonna do this little survey to see and test the people of Sinodefence.

OK, in order structure out as below and list the most powerful nation you think in No.1 and down etc. to No.10. And give ONE line of explaining.

1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.

Please dont turn this into an argument and dont write a story or novel about your reason. Do this please. Should be fun and interesting to see.

Ooh and state your nationality not the country you live in like of your Chinese living in America dont call yourself American call yourself Chinese. Etc.

I'll start off with Top 5

1. US-Engines, technology in space, influence, experience, systems
2. China-Influence, long term structure, generation leaps, growth
3. Russia-Old experience nation, large amounts of nukes
4. France-Advance, systems, communication
5. Israel-Advance modern up to date military, pilots, experience

 

[Jeff Head]

I'll start off with Top 5

1. US-Engines, technology in space, influence, experience, systems
2. China-Influence, long term structure, generation leaps, growth
3. Russia-Old experience nation, large amounts of nukes
4. France-Advance, systems, communication
5. Israel-Advance modern up to date military, pilots, experience

Well the thread title says top ten Military powers...so that leaves off a lot of other criteria. I will base my top ten on current military power alone as the thread title implies.

1. United States
2. Russia
3. England
4. France
5. China
6. India
7. Israel
8. Pakistan
9. Japan
10. North Korea

The rational is purely on nuclear weapons technology because they represent the ultimate military weapon (interestingly enough, both offensively and defensively)...and the ability to quickly field them and deliver them. Japan may go higher on the scale...up to or just below India depending on how quickly you think they can field and deliver them. I am willing to bet, though like Israel they are "unannounced", that it would be fairly quickly.

Now, in conventional military senses, the countries are pretty close to the same, but may be juggled around a bit...but since you simply said military, and did not qualify it, I had to trump it with nuclear weapons.

 

[Totoro]

These sort of threads usually get closed but since this one hasn't, i shall participate in my own way. Instead of giving reasons for a placement of a country, i will make five different lists from which my opinion on what a country is good at and what it is not should be visible. Keep in mind i'm not taking into consideration geography - they're rated based on conflicts at imaginary lands, where geography is same for every country. Also, i threw nuclear weapons out of equation as - if one side has them and the other doesn't - it's a huge game changer.

top 8, if they were defending an imaginary continental land from a neighbor, a very strong agressor, bent on setting foot and permanently occupying their country.
1. China
2. US
3. India
4. Russia
5. Japan
6. France
7. Germany
8. UK

top 8, if they were defending an imaginary island land from a neighbor, a very strong agressor, bent on setting foot and permanently occupying their country.
1. US
2. China
3. Japan
4. India
5. Russia
6. UK
7. France
8. Germany

top 8, if they were attacking a neighbouring continental enemy land, bent on conquering them fully.
1. US
2. China
3. Russia
4. France
5. UK
6. India
7. Germany
8. Japan

top 8, if they were attacking an enemy island based land, half way around the globe, bent on conquering them fully.
1. US
2. UK
3. France
4. China
5. Russia
6. Japan
7. India
8. Germany

top 8, if two countries' militaries were just to charge at one another at an imaginary massive battlefield (land and sea) till the death of the last soldier.
1. US
2. China
3. Russia
4. France
5. UK
6. India
7. Japan
8. Germany

Have fun.

 

[Gollevainen]

1. Finland
2. Sweden
3. Switzerland
4. Israel
5. Singapore
6. Taiwan
7. Greece
8. Yugoslavia (the old Socialistic federal...for nostalgia's sake )
9. South Korea
10. Japan

Migth seem bit odd list but those all are small (or mediocore), non super power nations that still can be reasonably expected to be able to deter any military agression against them by keeping up army that is actually mented to figth the opponent, not just be some link in some alligment chain or some political comfort factor.
And Im a fin, living in Finland and thats why I have strong emotional obinion about small nations capacity to defend themselfs. I put finland atop of the list not becouse of nationalism, but from simple "service-pride" -thing...if you have served in some army, you have to trust to its capacities...its a weird spiritual-life issue but once you have served in your own armed forces, you will understand it.

 

[bd popeye]

These sort of threads usually get closed but since this one hasn't

Very true...We are keeping a close eye on this thread.Have fun!.

 

[dollarman]

This kinda comparison is hard to make. For example, Israel has systems that are considerably more advanced than the PLA's in many areas, but the Israeli military as whole would still be considered to be weaker than China's due to it's large dependence on the U.S, aswell as how small her forces are compared to the PLA.

 

[The_Zergling]

I have to say Jeff Head's criteria for evaluating military prowess in particular is an interesting take on the issue and does have its valid points. Still, to make this a bit more interesting I'll also disregard nuclear weaponry by making the assumption that no nation wants to start World War III.

I don't really have a separate list for different circumstances - I feel that any nation playing defense - such as in an insurgency situation would have stronger motivation and capability and might in fact be able to achieve military or political goals more effectively than if it were to try to be the occupier. I have no doubt that like Gollevainen said, many relatively small nations can be very tough adversaries, but they do not necessarily have the ability to threaten other nations, which in my book defines military prowess.

Force projection plays a very strong role in my selections... primarily conventional forces. Needless to say Naval power is important here.

1. US
2. UK
3. Russia
4. France
5. China
6. Germany
7. India
8. Japan

I had a fairly hard time placing France and Germany. Japan would have ranked higher than India if it weren't for the constitutional prohibition against force as an aggressor.

As for nationality... I think it's fairly subjective. I was born and raised in the United States by Taiwanese parents - whether or not that makes me 'Chinese' or 'Taiwanese' or 'American' seems hard to pin down for outsiders. But personally, I consider myself half and half, primarily due to the fact that I have spent fairly equal amounts of time in both countries.

 

[adeptitus]

Given a "Falklands" like situation, where nations are ranked by their long-range deployment, aircraft carrier, and amphibious assault capability ("power projection"):

1. US
2. UK
3. France
4. Spain
5. Italy
6. India (will move up in near future)

Other nations like Japan, Australia, China, Korea, Netherlands, etc. have some amphibious assault capability, but lacks operational aircraft carriers. The Russian navy is in no condition to deploy for such a mission.

The Indian navy is quite large and powerful in its home waters, but is lacking in large sized, long-range amphibious warfare ships. With the pending purchase of USS Trenton LPD, Shardul class landing ships, and 2 additional aircraft carriers under construction/refit, things are looking up for the Indian navy. I expect them to move up the ladder in near future.

 

[yehe]

Symetric comparasion
Land war
1. US (Purely cuz its army aviation is bigger than China)
2. China (Traditonal strong point of PLA, quantity and fair Quality as well)
3. Russia (Leftover impression of the massive 10k armor Red army and past war experience)
4. India(Big enough army on all aspect, too much foriegn equipment from too many different origin, logistic nightmare)
5. North Korea
6. Germany
7. UK
8. France
9. Taiwan
10. Japan (Japanese army is a big joke amongst major powers IMO)


Naval


1. US
2. UK
3. Japan
4. China (More Subs than anyone)
5. Russia
6. France
7. India (Carrier, even if they are kinda of Old)
8. Germany (New powerful frigate and German subs)
9. Taiwan
10. Dutch

Air combat

1. US
2. Russia
3. China
4. India
5. France
6. Japan
7. Isreal
8. UK
9. Taiwan
10. Germany

 

[mxiong]

1. Silver Surfer
2. US
3. Russia
4. China
5. France
6. UK
7. Germany
8. Japan
9. India
10. South Korea