When we look at the strongest militaries in Asia, there is little doubt that there’s
a big four: Russia (which is technically Eurasian), China, Japan, and India.
Not too far behind are Turkey (which is also technically Eurasian) and South Korea.
But if you look at military strength Indexes, Asian countries such as Pakistan, Israel,
Vietnam, North Korea, Taiwan, Indonesia, and Thailand all have strong militaries.
But today we are going to focus on Asia’s weakest links, in this episode of the Infographics
Show, Top 10 Weakest Armies in Asia.
10.
Sri Lanka With a total of just over 300,000 military
personnel, this isn’t exactly a small army, but the problem is not manpower, but the lack
of equipment.
In fact, Global Security tells us that until recent times, the country didn’t have much
of a military industry.
Over recent decades,the army was busy though, fighting Tamil militant groups up until almost
a decade ago.
A black mark for the military followed, with the Sri Lankan Armed Forces being accused
of war crimes against the Tamil Tigers.
As for equipment, we are looking at some very old tanks of Russian and Chinese origin, while
the air force’s best asset is an aging multirole fighter, the Israel Aircraft Industries Kfir.
There is barely a navy to speak of, but the country does have a rather large collection
of patrol boats.
The military budget for 2017 was $1.8 billion, but Jane's Defense Weekly tells us that for
2018, it’s been increased to $1.9 billion.
9.
Qatar Ok, so you might be thinking what on Earth
is Qatar doing on this list.
The country has money coming out of its ears!
Well, the reason it’s here is because it’s military is so small, there are probably more
U.S. personnel eating sushi right now than there are personnel in the entire Qatar military.
Qatar’s armed forces number at 12,000, and you can’t do much with that small a military.
On the other hand, the country has been branching out.
Added to its one billion-plus defense budget since 2015, Qatar has been busy spending more
billions on new toys, perhaps the best of which was a fleet of French Dassault Rafale
aircraft.
Qatar also ordered fleets of F-15Es and Eurofighter Typhoons.
This will mean a very powerful air force, but with a weak navy and not much land strength,
as well as hardly any military personnel, Qatar is like a rich man with lots of expensive
cars who doesn't know how to drive.
8.
Bahrain Bahrain’s defense budget for 2017 was about
$1.4 billion.
In terms of defense imports, in 2015 they amounted to $30 million, but increased to
$80 million a year after.
This was because of domestic terrorism in the Middle East.
That cash was mostly spent on missiles and F-16 maintenance- a whopping total of 17 Fighting
Falcons.
It also has 180 M60 Patton main battle tanks, but those things (which are also US-made)
are as old as your granddad.
The navy is tiny, and easily the weakest link, with just one frigate and some patrol craft.
With around 47,000 personnel, it also does not have a big army.
7.
Lebanon The Lebanese military is made up of around
116,000 personnel.
It’s hard to say what the budget is, as so much comes in foreign aid from the U.S.,
UK, and Saudi Arabia – the latter of which promised a whopping $3 billion in 2015 and
then suspended it.
Still the country has quite a large collection of land artillery, mostly U.S-made machines
that are quite old.
The air force is weak, but perhaps better than some militaries on this list.
It gets freebies, too, such as the two A-29 Super Tucanos the U.S. donated recently.
Besides some patrol craft, there isn’t anything in terms of firepower on water.
6.
Cambodia Cambodia is a country that has seen its fair
share of trials and tribulations over the last few decades.
While the economy has been doing better and the country is quickly modernizing, its military
is still somewhat in the dark ages.
Still, its active and reserve forces number 195,000.
Prime Minister Hun Sen has been promising an influx of weapons into the country, and
the budget for 2018 is said to be a respectable $542 million.
What does the country already own?
Not much.
No fighter aircraft, no navy, and a lot of old tanks and other artillery.
5.
Nepal Nepal’s defense budget for 2017 was around
$359 million, with 157,000 personnel in its small military.
You could say it’s kind of the Qatar inverse.
The country has no expensive aircraft to brag about, and just a few helicopters and transport
aircraft.
While Nepal has a huge collection of armored fighting vehicles, most of them should be
in a museum.
There is no navy to speak of, and without access to large bodies of water, it really
has no need of one.
4.
Kyrgyzstan Kyrgyzstan’s defense budget for 2017 was
about $240 million dollars.
The military is very small in terms of manpower, with just 25,000 personnel including reserves.
The military is mostly made up of what was left when the country was part of the Soviet
Union.
Kyrgyzstan has around 150 main battle tanks, all Soviet T-72s that have seen better days.
But with a fairly large selection of armored fighting vehicles and towed artillery, the
army can pack some kind of punch.
The air force virtually doesn’t exist, with just a few helicopters.
And the country doesn’t have a navy.
With its close ties to both Russia and China though, Kyrgyzstan doesn’t really need a
large fighting force.
3.
Tajikistan With just 15,000 military personnel, this
military is one of the smallest on our list in terms of numbers.
Even those enlisted throughout the years have been known to be disorderly or just make a
run for it.
There have been reports of soldiers being beaten to death and soldiers committing suicide.
Yes, this army is a mess.
It’s $73 million defense budget won’t go too far, either.
In the air, you have a few helicopters, and in the water, you have nothing at all.
We can’t really say anything too positive about this outfit.
2.
Laos One of the most bombed countries ever, thanks
to the U.S. dropping over 2 million bombs on the country in the 60s and 70s, Laos has
mostly been the victim of other people’s wars.
The military has a total of 130,000 personnel, and the budget for 2017 was just 18.5 million.
According to the CIA, the military is drastically underfunded.
Most of the artillery is ancient and of Russian origin, while both the navy and the air force
don’t have any fighting machines.
1.
Bhutan Bhutan is also a country that doesn’t put
much emphasis at all on military, though it has far fewer personnel than Laos at around
15,000, active and reserve.
But the country doesn’t even have those old Russian machines on land, except for a
handful of very old armored fighting vehicles.
Its air force consists of a couple of helicopters and a couple of transport aircraft, and there
is no navy to speak of.
You might not even call this a military and instead call it a security force for any internal
struggles in the country.
Global Firepower tells us the defense budget is $10 million.
Not much you can do with that, but the country has a very good relationship with India if
troubles
do come.
So, do you agree with this list?
There certainly were a few countries we thought about adding to the list, but we only had
room for ten.
Which countries do you think we should have included?
Let us know in the comments!
Also, be sure to check out our other video called Top 10 Strongest Armies in the world
in 2018.
Thanks for watching, and, as always, don’t forget to like, share, and subscribe.
See you next time!