5. The United Kingdom
Budget: $60.5 billion
Active frontline personnel: 146,980
Tanks: 407
Total aircraft: 936
Submarines: 10
The United Kingdom, another member of the EU, also has a plan of reducing the size of the armed forces by 20% between 2010 and 2018, and apply smaller cuts to the Royal Navy and RAF. The defence budget of the UK currently stands at $54 billion. It has a regular force of only about 205,000, along with a small air force of 908 aircraft, and an even smaller navy of 66 ships. However, the army of the UK is still a powerful one, with its superior training, equipment and its 160 nuclear weapons being the main strengths. The Royal Navy is planning to put to service HMS Queen Elizabeth, in 2020. It is an aircraft carrier, planned to carry 40 F-35B joint strike fighters around the world.
4. India
Budget: $50 billion
Active frontline personnel: 1,325,000
Tanks: 6,464
Total aircraft: 1,905
Submarines: 15
India has put its massive population to use, and built an army of a sizeable 3.5 million, including 1.325 million active military. The huge size of the Indian military is one of the reasons why it has always remained among the countries with best armies in the world. The man force of the army is complemented by almost 16,000 land vehicles which include 3,500 tanks, as well as 1,785 aircraft, alongside nuclear weapons. Its ballistic missiles can hit all of Pakistan or most of China. Its current defence budget stands at $46 billion, but it is expected to rise, in a drive to modernize the military power and become the 4th highest spender by 2020. It is the world’s largest military goods importer.
3.China
Budget: $216 billion
Active frontline personnel: 2,333,000
Tanks: 9,150
Total aircraft: 2,860
Submarines: 67
It should come as no surprise that the Chinese military appears so far into the list. Given the extremely large recruitment pool required drafting, at least in theory, nearly all of the Chinese population could be seen as a recruitment pool if demand required, though for most measures, an active force of around 2.5 million is usually considered a good estimate. With nearly 3,000 aircraft and 700 ships to its name, China is a major force to be reckoned with. However, more concerning for those who may have tense relations with China is their cyberwarfare division which has often been the ire of other militaries and even civilian companies. A prime example is that in 2010, Google suffered a hack that was later blamed on PLA unit 61398, which nearly caused Google to exit relations to the country.
2. Russia
Budget: $84.5 billion
Active frontline personnel: 766,055
Tanks: 15,398
Total aircraft: 3,429
Submarines: 55
Russia’s defence budget stands at $76.6 billion, and is expected to grow 44% more in the next three years. In fact, the military spending of Kremlin has increased by about a third since 2008, especially since Vladimir Putin took hold of Russia in 2000. The Russian army has shown substantial growth since the collapse of the Soviet Union two decades ago. It has 766,000 active frontline personnel and almost 2.5 million on the reserve force, though the soldiers receive mediocre training. The man force is backed by 15,500 tanks, making Russia the largest tank force in the world, though it is aging, like the other equipment. The country is the world’s leader, with almost 8,500 active nuclear warheads.
1. The United States
Budget: $601 billion
Active frontline personnel: 1,400,000
Tanks: 8,848
Total aircraft: 13,892
Submarines: 72
Topping off our list of most powerful militaries is the United States. While not the largest manned military at around 2.5 million active and reserve soldiers, the United States more than makes up for that with nearly 14,000 aircraft and 415 naval vessels to command. Similarly overwhelming is the budget allotted to the military, $581 Billion, which dwarfs every other singular country by a wide margin. Like many other countries present in this list, the US Department of Defense spends much of that on systems development to create ever more capable defense measures and train ever more competent staff. A leading force in both the UN and NATO, the United States is often seen as the most powerful and sometimes known as the police of the world, for good reason.
