Top 10 Best Modern Militaries/Armed Forces

[Ukko]

Who do you think are the top 10 best Militaries/Armed Forces in the world? In other words if each country was to go in an all out war with each other, one on one, who would win the most times? And I mean army, navy, air force, special forces, ect. and not so much on nukes. Think about technological capabilities, population and country size, ect.

Here are mine;

1. United States

Big Gap Here

2. Russia

Big Gap Here

3. China

4. India

5. United Kingdom

6. France

7. Germany

8. Japan

9. Brazil

10. Pakistan


Obviously United States owns the competition. No military comes close anymore. Russia obviously comes next, with a large geographic size, okay population, and high tech weapons from the old Soviet Union (although their poverty is bringing them down).

China and India come next with the largest populations and one of the largest land areas. China has the largest overall armed forces, India has the second largest overall armed forces.

United Kingdom and France comes next with technology (especially Britain's special forces) as good as Russia, maybe even better. Their small size and population keeps them a BIT lower than the other Eurasian giants.

Germany and Japan (especially Japan) has had a lot of international pressure against military build-up but they still have one of the best armed forces. Germany has some of the finest tank forces in the world. Japan still has a power navy, although it has decreased quite a bit since WWII.

I wasn't sure who would come next but after some thinking Brazil seems powerful enough. It has a large geographic size and population and their armed forces are pretty big too. They also have a pretty large economy to make up for anything else. Pakistan would come next, with a pretty large military. They have also developed nukes (this list doesn't focus much on nukes but it deserves a mention in this case none the less).

What are your top 10?

1. USA

2. China

3. Israel

4. Japan

5. South Korea

6. United Kingdom

7. France

8. Russia

9. Singapore

10. Germany


Honorable mentions, in no particular order, Australia, Poland, Finland, Taiwan, Switzerland.


Smaller countries with modern C2, organisation, doctrines, tactics, training and large enough reserves are better in the real world than some that look good on paper or in theory.

[tivali]

That's really impressive.

[Yetos]

I do not see Turkey
I do not see N Korea

[Curiocity]

The top three are definitely the USA, Russia and China. After that i'm really not sure.

[PortuBasq]

No since in posting my rankings as they're basically the way you've got them set. Except South Korea belongs in the top 10 and there are arguments for Israel being there too. But Israel is largely unknown as a Nuclear Power on top of having one the Top Spy Networks operating around the World. South Korea's Air Force is grossly underestimated along with Israel's. Their standing army too... is underestimated and as far as Technology few in the Top 10 are up to their speed!

Other than that..... I have zero argument with your rankings. One thing that stands out for both of these countries is that South Korea has been living like they have been on the brink of war since the Korean War. Israel has perhaps the most efficient Spy Network in the World and that's on top of having Nuclear capabilities since at least the mid 70's if not before!

[PortuBasq]

Just noticed some mistakes in my post. Is there an editor in this forum? ....or is that tool earned. Just to note the use of 'since' instead of 'sense'! Sorry!

[TruGrit]

Israel should be highly ranked. They have a great deal of military experience.

Turkey should be ranked also.

I would take out Japan and Pakistan and replace it with Turkey and Israel.

[Krum]

The armament of a new generation leader Russia
1. Russia
2. USA
3. NATO
4. China
5 Turkey
6. India
7. Iran
8. Israel
9. South Korea
10. North Korea
11. Pakistan

[[email protected]]

Ok, but if we're talking about a hypothetical situation in which the world is shitting a brick I'm sure there would be developments to further integrate defense. In fact the Lisbon Treaty has already set forth the first steps for that. The EU as a whole has HUGE potential. Admittedly it's not fully integrated and the defense spending in the Euro-area is dwindling, but let's remember that potential can change a lot, much like the US and USSR in WWII. They turned into super powers almost overnight, because of they're potential. The EU has a population over 500,000,000, quality technology, and a relatively strong economy when we drop Greece. XP POTENTIAL! ;)

A strong economy is necessary to support an effective military, but more important is will. I think Britain and France have it, Germany does not. Their people, traumatized by two world wars and now surrounded by allied countries, see no reason to support their military financially.

[[email protected]]

No since in posting my rankings as they're basically the way you've got them set. Except South Korea belongs in the top 10 and there are arguments for Israel being there too. But Israel is largely unknown as a Nuclear Power on top of having one the Top Spy Networks operating around the World. South Korea's Air Force is grossly underestimated along with Israel's. Their standing army too... is underestimated and as far as Technology few in the Top 10 are up to their speed!

Generally, I think nukes should be discounted. They are the weapon too terrible to use. They are a good asset for a small power, an Israel or North Korea, to have to dissuade attack, but a Russia or China (or India) can't use them without knowing the awful consequences. It's conventional forces, that opponents know you wouldn't be afraid to use, that affect the balance.

[ZAkino]

Yep! You right!

[nick6899]

united states
russia
china
united kingdom
france
india
pakistan
italy
germany

[Tamakore]

Convention Russian army is the weakest in the world. The whole their weapons are not digital. China is ahead of Russia for that reason. Most of Russias armament has lost its compettitivness.

A vindicated opinion from 7 years ago?

Ukraine was not on anybody's list. I'm surprised that the Top 10 has not been re-assessed in light of the invasion of Ukraine, even though that terrible war still has a way to go.

[HelenPowers]

As we can see now, Russian army all that years had been overrated. And noone ever mentioned Ukraine.
That list now is for sure changed

[Asil]

My top 5

1. USA
2. China
3. Russia
4. UK
5. Germany

Notable others;

-Japan
-Israel

[Tigertim]

A vindicated opinion from 7 years ago?

Ukraine was not on anybody's list. I'm surprised that the Top 10 has not been re-assessed in light of the invasion of Ukraine, even though that terrible war still has a way to go.

Good call from albanopolis, and British special forces are running rings round the Russians, i don't think this puts Ukraine up there as one of the best has a lot of their advice and help as come from the Usa and Britain without which they'd of being over run like what happened in Crimea they gave tha up with barely a fight.