list of top 10/20 militaries in the world?

I dont know if this question is apropriate here but im going to ask it anyway and i apologize to the mods/admins.. if it doesnt fit.

Okay can anyone give me a top 10 or 20 list of the worlds best militaries?

ex:

1) america
2)britian
3) isreal

and so on etc. etc. ...


also if anyone can give the number of men/woman each countrys militaries have and any other info if possible. i dont mind if its real detalied. any links would be cool too. thanks.



[Edited on 9-3-2003 by krossfyter]

Try this one.....

www.odci.gov...

ermsss
i think the question is not the military but the world best elite force in the military is the apropriate question just an optional maybe ?

Originally posted by unholy enterprise
ermsss
i think the question is not the military but the world best elite force in the military is the apropriate question just an optional maybe ?

yeah that be it .

Information is actually hard to come by (scarcely surprising when you recall the amount of speculation on �secret� weapons on ATS); and all too often one is comparing apples and oranges. Burma, for example, has a large army; but they�re mostly nine years old.
Again, numbers mislead: how do 20 Mig 21�s stack up against 5 F-16�s. Money misleads: one jet fighter will get you a quarter of a million automatic rifles. Then there are the imponderables such as training, morale, reserves/militias/national guards, playing home or away, terrain, theatres of action (how much use is a huge navy against a land-locked enemy?).and so on.
Almost all of the best sites �Janes; IISS etc� are subscription only � and are very detailed.
There�s a good NATO list here: www.nato.int...
But you make what you will of the fact that Turkey is second only to the US or that the Ukraine rivals France and dwarfs the UK.
Largely, size follows population with China, USA, America, India in the top 4; but there are exceptions: NK has a huge army and Indonesia a small one.

For detailed, topical study (it�s a big site) of the various factors upon which judgements might be reasonably based, this is as good as any I know.
www.strategypage.com...


Oh, and in the context of much hot air about North Korea, I�d recommend this as a source:
www.fas.org...

As for "�lite" forces: every country's is the best (or so they'd tell you) - to a degree it has to depend upon the support and experience and where, and how, and against whom, they're used.

so from the responses here i can safely assume that the supposed best military in the world .. the u.s. military is not because its all relative?



when i say best i mean...
best trained
best equiped
might etc.etc. (you get the idea)


im not versed in this stuff which is why i want to learn. so bare with me.

There are so many imponderables, KrossF. I'd say, on balance, most of the major NATO armies are pretty good - on balance, the US has the best equipment -but not for every conceivable theatre of war and not in every category.
On equipment, proven track record, motivation and experience - I imagine pound-for-pound the Israelis would take some beating. But, on the other hand, the country is an economic basket case, is very small and has a potential fifth column within it of almost half the population.
I think you have to do these things scenario-by-scenario.

I believe that the US Military is superior when you mention best trained and best equipped and holds the advantage because of our technology and intelligence, but then again I am very biased. I'm sure somebody with more knowledge about military than myself could better answer this, just wanted to give my opinion.

Militaries :

USA : US-MARINES COMMANDOS (Air Force I think)
G-I (Land forces) and Navy Seals

UK : S.A.S

France : The French Foreign Legion, 1st a 2nd Regiment of Parachutist, consider worldwide (and even by U-S) as one of the best world army

All fighting forces can be effected differently depending on the scenario they are in and the status of their enemies. This is why each army must be looked at carefully and comprimised each time it operates. That is why the research in the Military can get a little overboard. The possibilities are endless. Yesterday's terrorism is only today's warfare. That is why terrorism is so hard to defeat, because it is always in the shadows and is always lurking where others haven't been yet, or are just unwilling to go. Once the gates of knowledge are broken the new intelligence becomes new modes of operation. Now considering we have this Military contest split, let's probe into more specific groupings and resources within the Military establishmnet throughout the world.

I thought it was interesting that Estragon pointed out that Burma, a relatively small country with a large population has a huge army but that they were all young. Yet Indonesia, a very large and even more populated country has a very small army. Now think about this. Russia had a very large but demoralized army in the 2nd World War. That war was won by their countries backbone. The great land of Mother Russia is too large for any invader to consume. The will and desire not to be destroyed is what kept that whole country going. Remember, the Russians lost MUCH MUCH more that anyone in that war. The sad thing is that out of EVERYONE, the Russian citizen had more deaths than the Japanese, French and Italians put together. The Russian army suffered around 9 MILLION LOSSES, while the Russian CITIZEN population was reduced 11 MILLION!!!!!!!!!!! So sometimes the military has nothing to do with holding up in a war. It is the WILL OF THE PEOPLE that make an army strong.

So what do I think about some of the elite groups, and who have I been told is the best??? Well when it comes down to experience in operational raids I think all credit must go to the Israeli Defense Forces. They have kicked down, how many terrorists' doors????? As for Intelligence, I would have to say, Israel again. anyone will tell you that. The reason for that is they don't have the common mix up and conflict of interest that exist between our Government and the Intelligence agencies. The reason that the Israeli's can maintain better Intel, is because they don't have to fight to have permission for their operation and once the operation is in play they don't have to fight with other agencies to carry out their plans. The American system has too many bosses and order-takers. Not to mention Israel needs not to worry about the whole world like America does. Israel just hides under our overwhelming shadow and stays away from the fray. Once we are done with then maybe they will take over. That is why we won't allow full Israeli retaliation on the terror that threatens it, because eventually they will have to come and kick down our doors to stop the threats against them. Anyway getting off track here, don't mind my wandering mind. One more.

Now, for the best fighting force overall, like the Green Berets, or the Coast Guard. Well, I would have to say the most elite and most well known and credited fighting force is most definately 100 percent The French Foreign Legion. All the top guns like the SAS, US Rangers, and Delta Force recieve training with the Legionaires. I could give more but would rather do a little more research before claiming something I know isn't something I should know in the first place. Anyone else want to compare my list with their's????

Being British I'd say that the SAS are the best trained , and are very well equiped.

Overall though the US military is so far ahead of any other country in the world. The US military budget is equal to the next 13 biggest countries military budgets put together!

So I have no argument with saying that the US military is the best equipped, biggest, and probably the best trained (except for elite fighting forces in other countries).

reply to post by krossfyter


my is name Esack Valery.In my opinion consedering many factors like scientific innauvations and technological development I think the classification has to be as follows
U S A
RUSSIA
CHINA
U K
FRANCE
ISRAEL
GERMANY
INDIA
IRAN
NORTH KOREA
JAPAN
ITALY
PAKISTAN
SAUDI ARABIA
SOUTH KOREA
SPAIN
BRAZIL
LIBYA
SYRIA
TAIWAN
For more details contact through this address [email protected]