Few things about China:

- It is not 1987, it is 2007. China's military revolution is nowhere near complete, but it is certainly not the backward, pre-industrial agrarian military that it was just 20 years ago. Its equipment has improved considerably and it has rightfully downsized and gotten rid of many obsolete equipment. "People's War" has a drastically different meaning in 2007 than it did in 1987.
- That said, it is still very much a defensive military. In my opinion, a military incapable of conducting offensive operations is not one of the best militaries in the world.

That said, here are my top 3:

1. United States of America
2. Russian Federation
3. Republic of India

Great Britain definitely. Great special forces, great navy, and great airforce.

Originally posted by American Mad Man
Russia is #2 - no contest.

They have experience, size, tech, and nukes. The org they have is better or equal to that of China. The Experience is maybe the biggest factor - you know the saying - practice makes perfect. Well, Russian generals have a lot of practice from their USSR days. Can you think of the last time China was in a war?

Uhh WW2?

Originally posted by American Mad Man
OK, so most people are stuck on the US vs. Russia debate (US - no contest ) but most people would agree that these 2 are still top dog. My question is who is next in the pecking order?

Some contenders (not limited to) : China, the UK, Israel

I am not going to comment at first because I want to see what other people think and I don't want to direct the thread in any direction.

[edit on 4-8-2005 by John bull 1]

Presuming The US and Russia are 1 and 2 Respectively...


3) United Kingdom

4) Israel

5) China

Both have superior technology, massive funding, are nuclear powers and are closest allied with the United States, not to mention have the best intelligence services. (US and Israel)

What one must realize, is that in modern combat the Air force and navy are have much more emphasis than the ground soldier did in previous major wars. Whoever controls the skies and the sea WILL win.

If you look into the type of aircraft, naval vessels and weaponry other countries are using, you'll find that much of it was purchased from the Soviet union in the 70's and 80's or is outdated.

I was surprised to see someone mention India as a #3 contender. Their air force is mainly comprised of MIG's from the cold war era and they currently have ONE air craft carrier in active duty (the INS virat.) While they have many soldiers, they would have no method of transportation for them, or an air force that could hold the skies.

China is in a similar situation. They have many eligible conscripts, but ONLY 4 active submarines and few air craft carriers. Their air force does have some American technology (150 F-16's), but the newer generation F-22's and F-35's (which the Israelis have acquired from America as well) could run circles around them.

One must also consider how battle tested a country's military really is. British troops are currently involved in active engagements throughout the middle east, and have been battle tested time and time again.

Israel is always under attack from someone, and has successfully fended off NUMBEROUS invasions from forces 100x their size encompassing many country's. Not to mention, Every able person must serve at least 2 years in the military if they are to be an Israeli citizen.

~S

I think it's probably a tie between Israel and the UK for number three but you have to remember that just about everything Israel has defense-wise they owe to the United States. We bankroll them AND provide them with weaponry.

For the life of me..
I cannot understand why Israel is touted as being in the top 3.. or 5 for that matter..

Are we talking qualitative or quantitative?

Originally posted by salez20

I was surprised to see someone mention India as a #3 contender. Their air force is mainly comprised of MIG's from the cold war era and they currently have ONE air craft carrier in active duty (the INS virat.) While they have many soldiers, they would have no method of transportation for them, or an air force that could hold the skies.

hehe..
And I'm surprised to see your post..

The Indians have in their Airforce a jet that is supposedly one of the best air sup a/c after the Raptor and the Typhoon.
They have about 50+ of them now and about 240 by 2015.

I would like to put forward something that many here won't like to hear ( Yanks Mainly ) because it challenges their ego's. To attain #1 military in the world you would have to have the best Offensive record and Defensive record in theatre for a period of time.

To ascertain the #1 title you would use statistics as the guide not just "you think" based on your "gut".

USA defensive record....
1. WW2 Pearl Harbour was a total loss except the Carriers that were moved out the week precluding the Japanese attacking.

2. 911 when 19 alledged terrorist's brought the USA to its knees, NORAD got shown up as a total waste of money and the Pentagon ( military HQ ) was attacked successfully.

Recent USA Offensive record
1. Currently in Iraq and Afganistan...can't seem to subdue insurgents ( Taliban making inroads to reclaiming Kahbul ).
2. Gulf War 1 <--- total failure to reduce Saddams Capacity at the time hence the need to go back in later to remove WMD's.
3. Vietnam was a tactical withdrawl and hence the Northern Communist's took over the south...eventual Total Loss.
4. Korea resulted in the North maintaining ther Communistic Control and still is a problem today with its nucler proliferation.

As you can see to categorically claim the Worlds #1 mantle of world superpower leads to the inevitable conclusion.......there is no criteria that you could construct to accurately stake this claim. Unless of course you meant the #1 in the world for military agression ? or the #1 in the world for dropping the most bombs ? or the #1 in the world for killing the most people with a single bomb ?

It goes like this here.

1) United States
2) Russia
3) China
4) United Kingdom
5) Israel

...

6) India
7) North Korea
8) Iran
9) Turkey
10) Pakistan

I put into Bold the Islamic and Jewish countries most likely of seeing some forms of conflict in addition to those which may exist, and put in italics their main weapons suppliers. Do you see a trend there? All the top dogs are the top sellers of the weapons to all the countries which are either in some form of conflict, or are close to it. I also gave nukes a strong consideration, as I did sheer numbers and fanaticism, earning China the 3rd place spot over the United Kingdom, and Iran the 8th place spot over Turkey or Pakistan, despite that the latter are nuclear equipped. A lot of crazy men will go a long way. Korean War is the most perfect example.

See, United States may be #1, but Russia and China, if they lent their FULL and open military support to any single nation on the top 10 list, that nation could defeat the United States, with the help of those two nations, in conventional warfare. When all was said and done, USA would inflict horrendous casualties but have to withdrawal before being consumed (sound familiar?) So the game is very tense right now because of this, and Washington should just drop or drastically change their Eastern Europe missile shield if they want Russia to not aid Iran.

I hope our next President does this, and makes the ties better between USA and Russia. Then we'll have Iran right where we want them.

[edit on 11/28/2007 by runetang]

How can you rate Israel over India..Or France for that matter??!


Just doesn't make sense..

The chinese army for me. ... i would say even nr 1..
They have a bigger navy than the Ryssian. Total over 55 Submarines in service.


Just watch what they are building..
Total over 55 Submarines in service

And about the chinese navy is poor.. BUULL @\?!$#

They will just mass produce and when they dont have any space left.. invade

I would only just include israel in my top 15 the country is too too too small they can easily defend their small country but they cannot project power. Russia is probably not that good they have thousands of obselete tanks similair size infantry to US. But there population is 100 million less than the Us the only thing they have is nukes. I would place UK, Germany, France, and Italy very close together (nukes aside they will never use nukes it is to dangerouse).

it goes

usa
russia
Niger...that's right...Niger, the 3rd most powerful country in thw world...lol, also the least livable in the world...

Originally posted by American Mad Man
OK, so most people are stuck on the US vs. Russia debate (US - no contest ) but most people would agree that these 2 are still top dog. My question is who is next in the pecking order?

Some contenders (not limited to) : China, the UK, Israel

I am not going to comment at first because I want to see what other people think and I don't want to direct the thread in any direction.

[edit on 4-8-2005 by John bull 1]

It seems you are confusing 'best' with biggest'. No doubt USA have the biggest military capability, but are someway short of being the best 'pound for pound'. That honour surely belongs to the Brits

One must also consider how battle tested a country's military really is. British troops are currently involved in active engagements throughout the middle east, and have been battle tested time and time again.



[/quote

It's a little known fact that British Forces have been involved in active operations in EVERY SINGLE YEAR since 1939 apart from one(which was 1967 I think) That's 68 out of the last 69 years!!

Originally posted by DavidLilley
It seems you are confusing 'best' with biggest'. No doubt USA have the biggest military capability, but are someway short of being the best 'pound for pound'. That honour surely belongs to the Brits

I wasn't going to get into this, because I thought it was an immature pissing contest.

Like it or not, the US is number 1 in force projection, technology, as well as spending (military R&D spending is estimated to be around 70B alone), assuring all the latest gizmo's and gadgets are fielded by US forces.

Logistically speaking, the US wins hands down. Russia cannot project its force much, past its own borders, china is even worse off in these regards. The UK, not much better. The americans practically invented it, they have it mastered, they are the #1 force projection force out there.

US

Russia

Isreal