Which E.U nation is the strongest military?

[Nike]

Britain has a bigger defence budget than France but we don't spend it wisely. We have too many pen pushers at the MOD and not even men, ships and planes.

you spend it to fund your adventure in Iraq and Afghanistan for almost a decade

 

[RISING SUN]

I didn't list all E.U nations for obvious reasons. Just pick from the list and discuss why you voted for a particular country.

France because they are pretty less dependent on US when it comes to military deployment, defence manufacturing, military planning. It is like saying germans have pretty strong manufacturer base but they lack strategic power compared to French and Brtishers. While Britain gives close competition on strategic reach but it falters from track when it comes to defence manufacturing on its own. And it follows most of US direction but also helps in finding way with US, so US effectivelly dwarfs it. So my choice would be France. Thank you.

 

[livingdead]

Rule britannia !!! rule the waves...

also land and air

 

[Pakistani E]

United Kingdom, hands down. France probably second.

 

[The hero of Islam]

Nothing + in E.U they are just worshiping USA. Till the end of worship there is no good air force.

 

[AUz]

Britain.

And then French.

 

[damm1t]

voted 4 greece... man they need some cheer...

 

[Hashshāshīn]

UK easily.

 

[nvKyleBrown]

Never forget what germany is capable of

Capable of not funding their military. No funding equals no capability.

 

[Hashshāshīn]

Capable of not funding their military. No funding equals no capability.

It's not funding. They still have restrictions on their military. If they were given a free hand, they could become the superpower within a few decades.

 

[atatwolf]

Britain has a bigger defence budget than France but we don't spend it wisely. We have too many pen pushers at the MOD and not even men, ships and planes.

Military personnel get overpaid in Europe. That is why a high budget in Europe doesn't mean a better army if you compare it to Turkey for example.

 

[nvKyleBrown]

It's not funding. They still have restrictions on their military. If they were given a free hand, they could become the superpower within a few decades.

Not true. They are well behind on just funding to NATO expected levels. The US has put pressure on them for years to increase funding to no avail. NATO target is 2% GDP, Germany is typically 1.2%, or about 60% of expected NATO spend. The problems are not treaty-related, they are with the German people's willingness to spend on defense.

German hard power: Is there a there there?
http://online.wsj.com/articles/SB10001424052702303802104579449571957045910
http://online.wsj.com/articles/nato-leaders-to-vow-to-lift-military-spending-1409832341

Italy, France and Turkey have a larger military than Germany. The UK is right behind, but with less manpower, probably has more technology. Germany is arguably still reforming it's military from the unification, and it hasn't really been clearly successful in doing so yet. Further, the willingness to actually deploy is somewhere a league below Sweden, Norway and Denmark.

 

[KingMamba]

France but they would still probably end up surrendering.

 

[SipahSalar]

GlobalFirepower easily settles it. UK

 

[Nexus]

1) Britannia !
2) France
3) Aryan Germany :p