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Top 10 Most Powerful Militaries in 2017

On the other hand, some countries can fight well in their home-turf but they cannot project power in other parts of the world like the US and fall short in a number of areas.
I had this debate yrs ago, at RAF Upper Heyford when I was on the F-111 and at MacDill when I was on the F-16.

The debate and question is this...

Using sporting analogy of home and away games. If an expeditionary air force, assuming powerful enough to transport itself out of familiar territory, was defeated in an 'away' game, how should we rate the two air forces ?

Believe it or not, the debate was split quite even. Some say that the ability to transport itself to an 'away' game should be a positive and permanent standard, and I am in this camp, to rank the air forces of the world. Some say combat capability should be the final determinant. Not exactly even. One squadron would have opinions one way, the other squadrons would have opinions the other way. Some were fixed, some changed their views after closer examination of the factors involved. So overall, it was somewhat even.

I am of the opinion that the ability to carry -- or force -- the fight away from home turf should be a significant factor in assessing the offensive capability of an air force, even if the expeditionary air force was defeated over someone else's airspace. An army on the offensive set the combat tempo and it is no different in an air campaign. The defense is always on uncertainty. The defeated air force may temporarily cease operation or even withdraw completely, but it can always return with a new air strategy and combat tactics to counter the tactics that defeated it the first time.
 
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the best military in the world belongs to the US , no doubt , but with someone like trump in charge the soft power is at its lowest in decades if not years , all it takes for american global hegemony to wayne are dissatisfied chinese students who flock to the US in hords , of course when the wars start to arrupt around the world , trump would have no answer , except maybe a few farts
 
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I said in the long run, China just started building up a decade or so ago, is still doing he catch up work, but it's catching up fast cause of the money she has now.

China will never be able to catch up because It is such a country which inspite of having huge Defense budget of 150 bn USD has a very pathetic R & D. It can not design a single plane on its own and copy everything which they get a chance to copy. It will remain a poor country in R & D and never be able to come up with any nice world class weapon. This is the reason why nobody purchase any weapon from china except the country like Pakistan.
 
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China will never be able to catch up because It is such a country which inspite of having huge Defense budget of 150 bn USD has a very pathetic R & D. It can not design a single plane on its own and copy everything which they get a chance to copy. It will remain a poor country in R & D and never be able to come up with any nice world class weapon. This is the reason why nobody purchase any weapon from china except the country like Pakistan.
China's rise is a very recently event, it's so fast and even China herself is not ready for this vast buildup of wealth in such a short span of time, so it needs time to do the catch up and digest bit by bit, China now is catching fast in all fronts with her newly found wealth and everyone can see how fast Chinese military develops in the past 5 years. and you, as an Indian, is in the worst positon to ridicule China.

30 years ago if someone said that average Chinese people can afford a TV, people must think they are crazy, 20 years ago if some said almost every Chinese can afford a car, people must think they've lost their mind, 10 years ago if some Indian guy said Chinese cellphones will dominate Indian market, Indians would laugh their heads off. But that's China, we make things happen.
 
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1. USA
2. Israel
3. China
4. England
5. France
6. Germany
7. Turkey
8.India
9. Russia
10.Iran.

Lol as if Pakistan is ready to fight everyone on earth
 
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Only a fool would measure strength by firepower. GFP Measures things similar to this way: If country A has 10 T-34s, and country B has 9 Leopard 2s, then country A would win. This is absolutely wrong.

1. USA
2. Israel
3. China
4. England
5. France
6. Germany
7. Turkey
8.India
9. Russia
10.Iran.

Lol as if Pakistan is ready to fight everyone on earth
I don't think we are stronger than Russia and China though, I would say 4th or 5th place.
 
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All these rating are for stupid kids.

totaly agree...

This list is just adding numbers togther ...not taking in account the quality of the equipment

just my thought if taken anything into account including quality of weapons (as far as I know the equipment) leaving nuclear weapons aside..

1. USA ... nothing to discuss about it... 10 time bigger budget than the next... high quality equipment in huge numbers
2. India ... befor anyone blames me... India runs a giant T-90 fleet (nealry as much as the overall active tank fleet of Russia... Russia main battle tank is still the T-72 and they started NOW to update their old T-90A and K to MS and they only have 350 active of them while India runs nearly 2000 or already has more than 2000...
3. China... strong stady growning economy allows quickly upgade its equipment
4. Russia drops quickly out of the top 5 soon... outdated equipment.. some small number show off weapons does not turn down the fact that the majority of its equipment is old cold war stuff... the real active numbers are small (only 2500tanks) .. tanks in depot or worthless.. once a expert said a tanks sitting around for years can besend directly to scrap yard..the work to bring it back to life is not worth the money.. they have huge defence budget cuts... many projects only idle are on halt...
5. France good balance between numbers and up to date technology...
6. UK not on pair with France
7. south Korea... like France good balance between numbers and technology
8. Israel... small but with tonns of high end armored vehicles
9. Turkey...only lifes from numbers.. the bulk of their equipment is stoneage old...the tank fleet is huge but a technology joke.. M48, M60 and Leo1 still the main equipment... the most modern tank is the Leo2 A4 still on technical level of 1985.. much talking about upgrade so far nothing happen...
10. Japan

not in the List Germany... we have some decent technology but overall the Bundeswehr has given up to much of its former power... currently Artillery is a joke... tank fleet is modern but to small... Tornado needs replacement quickly... needs bigger budget to hold existing equipment battle ready...
 
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totaly agree...

This list is just adding numbers togther ...not taking in account the quality of the equipment

just my thought if taken anything into account including quality of weapons (as far as I know the equipment) leaving nuclear weapons aside..

1. USA ... nothing to discuss about it... 10 time bigger budget than the next... high quality equipment in huge numbers
2. India ... befor anyone blames me... India runs a giant T-90 fleet (nealry as much as the overall active tank fleet of Russia... Russia main battle tank is still the T-72 and they started NOW to update their old T-90A and K to MS and they only have 350 active of them while India runs nearly 2000 or already has more than 2000...
3. China... strong stady growning economy allows quickly upgade its equipment
4. Russia drops quickly out of the top 5 soon... outdated equipment.. some small number show off weapons does not turn down the fact that the majority of its equipment is old cold war stuff... the real active numbers are small (only 2500tanks) .. tanks in depot or worthless.. once a expert said a tanks sitting around for years can besend directly to scrap yard..the work to bring it back to life is not worth the money.. they have huge defence budget cuts... many projects only idle are on halt...
5. France good balance between numbers and up to date technology...
6. UK not on pair with France
7. south Korea... like France good balance between numbers and technology
8. Israel... small but with tonns of high end armored vehicles
9. Turkey...only lifes from numbers.. the bulk of their equipment is stoneage old...the tank fleet is huge but a technology joke.. M48, M60 and Leo1 still the main equipment... the most modern tank is the Leo2 A4 still on technical level of 1985.. much talking about upgrade so far nothing happen...
10. Japan

not in the List Germany... we have some decent technology but overall the Bundeswehr has given up to much of its former power... currently Artillery is a joke... tank fleet is modern but to small... Tornado needs replacement quickly... needs bigger budget to hold existing equipment battle ready...

T-90 is a joke man... ranking India based on that alone is not accurate...

My Top 10 list as of Dec. 2017 is

1. USA Level 100
2. Russia Level 19
3. China Level 17
4. France Level 10
5. UK Level 9
6. India Level 8
7. Japan Level 7
8. South Korea Level 6
9. Israel Level 5
10. Turkey Level 1

Not counting nukes though although wont make much difference to the list...
resources, manpower, skills, experience, most important tech. I have taken into account...
 
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J


We got a T90 expert here. Must have come to that conclusion zapping T90s left , right and center.

T90s Modified for India might have its usefulness but it alone doesnt provide India superiority on any other tank in region. A T72 modified and T90s I will put on same agility level for India.

Being from metallurgy background actually I do have some idea about armors and different ammunition's...

If somebody asks me to rate tanks vs tanks I will rate as follows:

Armor<purely based on the mettulrgy>:

Leclerc
Leo2
M1Abrahams
Type 90 Japan
Merkava4

Tech.

M1
Merkava4
Leclerc
Leo2
Challenger2

Ammunition:

M1A
Merkava4
Leo2/Challenger2/Leclerc

T90s Bhishma in service in India is actually a tin can compared to these tanks....

Arjun MK1 I will rate higher much more higher actually.

Overall if I have to chose one tank that will beat them all in 1 to 1 fight I will chose Leclerc simply coz better metal. Tech. can go wrong but not the metal.
 
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My Top 10 list as of Dec. 2017 is

1. USA Level 100
2. Russia Level 19
3. China Level 17
4. France Level 10
5. UK Level 9
6. India Level 8
7. Japan Level 7
8. South Korea Level 6
9. Israel Level 5
10. Turkey Level 1


This is good list, only i would put Israel above India.
 
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This is good list, only i would put Israel above India.

In case of India vs Israel or any upper level on Israel
Israel relies too heavily on tech. a decent air force can defend thr C4s and run over Israeli defenses based on pure manpower alone.

People dont actually realize how many trained and battle hardened Indian military forces are.
On land India army is a beast with decent air cover. Indian forces can overpower any army on planet.
But of course India lags behind in air force and naval forces a lot to bigger guns.
 
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In case of India vs Israel or any upper level on Israel
Israel relies too heavily on tech. a decent air force can defend thr C4s and run over Israeli defenses based on pure manpower alone.

Their superb r&d centers of excellence, which we need to emulate, they produce some serious equipment, what they lack in manpower they make up in tech wise
 
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