Pakistan Army ranks as the 15th most powerful military in the world, according to the 2019 military strength ranking report released by Global Firepower. The report reveals that the three most powerful military forces in the world are the United States, Russia, and China, with India at number four, taking the lead from France, Japan, South Korea, and the United Kingdom.
The Global Firepower ranks the military forces of 137 countries by comparing and examining a wide range of factors and not just the numbers of soldiers or weapons deployed by a country.
Pakistan 15th most powerful #military in the world #ھم_اورھماری_افواج ISPR #armyhttp://t.co/wwerJqFfgL pic.twitter.com/RnVGordPWU
— Wali Zahid (@walizahid) September 22, 2015
15th Most Powerful Military
The Global Firepower ranking mechanism involves scrutinizing a large variety of factors, which include the manpower, population, geography, diversity of weapons, and the state of development. Countries that are equipped with nuclear weapons get bonus points, however, the nuclear stockpiles of a country do not amount in the final score.
Countries that are equipped with naval fleets but lack diversity are penalized, however, landlocked countries who do not maintain navies are not penalized. The Global Firepower ranking creates the PowerIndex score for each country after examining more than 55 factors, and this ranking allows small and technological advanced nations to compete with large countries that are less developed and advanced.
Pakistan Army now ranks as 15th MOST POWERFUL in the world as per the Global Firepower Index.
Previously it was ranked at 17th.#PakistanZindabad #PakistanArmy #FutureTV pic.twitter.com/Z93DHBk4Pt— Future TV (@futuredottv) June 29, 2019
The heightened PowerIndex score is 0.0000, which is an unrealistic goal for any country. However, the closer a country is to this number, the more powerful its military. For instance, the PowerIndex score of the United States military stands at 0.0615, while Pakistan’s figure is 0.2798 and India ranks at 0.1065.
Pakistan & India’s Military Power
According to Global Firepower’s ranking, Pakistan has an estimated total of 1,204,000 military personnel. It ranks 7th out of 137 for its air defense force, equipped with a total number of 1342 aircrafts, 348 fighter aircrafts, 197 naval assets, and a defense budget of 7 billion US dollars.
Countries that are equipped with naval fleets but lack diversity are penalized, however, landlocked countries who do not maintain navies are not penalized.
India, on the other hand, has an estimated total of 3,462,500 military personnel, and its air defense force ranks 4th out of 137, with a total number of 2082 aircrafts, one aircraft carrier, 4148 combat tanks, and 295 naval assets. The defense budget of India is 55.2 billion US dollars.
According to the 2019 ranking by Global Firepower, the 25 most powerful militaries in the world include the US, Russia, China, India, France, Japan, South Korea, United Kingdom, Turkey, Germany, Italy, Egypt, Brazil, Iran, Pakistan, Indonesia, Israel, North Korea, Australia, Spain, Canada, Taiwan, Vietnam, Poland and Saudi Arabia respectively.
The three countries with the least powerful armies are Suriname, Liberia, and Bhutan, which rank 135, 136 and 137 respectively.
Read more: Pakistan Army takes foreign journalists to Kashmir
Pakistan Army
The Pakistan Army ranks amongst the most rapidly developing militaries across the world, and has enjoyed a rich history of winning international military competitions, and play an integral role in United Nations peacekeeping missions.
Earlier in June, the Pakistan Army won an international military drill competition, known as the Pace Sticking Competition, held at the Royal Military Academy of Sandhurst, in the United Kingdom. Pakistan Army had been the winner of this competition for the second consecutive year.
Second year running. Congratulations to the Pakistan Army for winning the annual “pace sticking” competition at the Royal Military Academy, Sandhurst. This year in the pouring rain.
Striking photo from Anthony Upton in today’s @Telegraph pic.twitter.com/ERRHL9wQko
— Thomas Drew (@TomDrewUK) June 14, 2019
In October 2018, a team of the Pakistan Army brought home a gold medal in the Cambrian Patrol competition held in Wales. The 11-member team consisted of valiant soldiers of the Northern Light Infantry battalion from Gilgit Baltistan.
Pakistan has always been a determined supporter of the United Nations peacekeeping missions, and the Pakistan Army has lent its support and made sacrifices for over 70 different operations across the world. According to data shared by the UN, Pakistan Army has the third-largest number of soldiers in the UN Peacekeeping Missions.