While the world talks of India getting closer to a permanent spot in the United Nations Security Council, a report released by Credit Suisse places India on the fifth spot in a list of the top 20 strongest armed forces in the world.
The report ranks the strength of 20 countries according to weaponry, including tanks, aircraft, helicopters and submarines, each country represents.
Indian soldiers sit atop T-90 tanks. India has 4.7 million military personnel. Photograph: Kamal Kishore/Reuters
The United States remains unopposed as the leader of the world's armed forces ranking at number 1 followed by Russia, China, Japan and India. The top ten are rounded off by France on the sixth spot, South Korea on number 7 and Italy, the United Kingdom and Turkey filling in spots eight through ten. India's neighbour and adversary Pakistan ranks at number 11.
According to the report the US is supremely powerful due to its fleet of 13,900 aircraft, 920 attack helicopters, 10 aircraft carriers and 72 submarines.
Sukhoi Su-27 jet fighters of the Russkiye Vityazi (Russian Knights) aerobatic team perform during the MAKS International Aviation and Space Salon in Zhukovsky outside Moscow, Russia. Photograph: Maxim Zmeyev/ Reuters
The report mentions that the 'US far outweighs the military might of any of its close rivals and so does its defense spending worth USD 610 bn in 2014, which is far more than the combined military expenditures of the next nine countries in our index.'
However, not losing sight of the vast nuclear arena in which the world finds itself, the report adds that, 'In reality, in today’s nuclear era, conventional forces are not the only indicator of military strength. Russia and the United States account for more than 90 percent of global inventories of nuclear weapons according to SIPRI.'
Although the report makes it clear that none of the countries in the list comes anywhere close to the US' figures, it does mentions that China boasts almost 50 per cent more active duty military personnel than the US.
Counted with Reserve Military and Paramilitary both India and China far exceed that of US.
India, which ranked fifth on the list, has a total of approximately 4.7 million military personnel, little more than half in comparison to China’s 7 million.
Interestingly, the US, which leads the list, has only around 2.3 million military personnel.
The pacifistic Japan, the only country to ever face an atomic attack, is ahead of India on the list because of the former’s air force.
The US-produced fighter aircraft of the Japanese Air Force are clearly ahead than those India is armed with.
In terms of naval strength, the US has 10 aircraft carriers, most of which are classified under the category of ‘supecarriers’, India and Italy are armed iwth two aircraft carriers each. China has only one in Liaoning.
Ranked seven spots after India’s military, the report gives Pakistan a final military strength score of 0.41.
Furthermore, the report reveals that Pakistan’s active personnel number stands at 7.1 lakh and is better armed than Germany, Australia, and Canada.
