The United States of America has a landmass of 3.8 million sq miles (9.8 million sq kilometers)
and a population of 325.7 million.
Syria, which is officially known as the Syrian Arab Republic, has 18.4 million people with
a landmass of 72 thousand sq miles (185,000 kilometers squared).
The US dwarfs Syria in terms of size and population, but how does that translate to the military
capability of these two nations?
That’s what we’ll be exploring today, in this episode of The Infographics Show:
USA vs Syria.
The most recent figures we could find for the Syrian defense budget are from 2011 with
a figure of 2.5 billion.
As for the US, president Donald Trump recently proposed an increase to the military budget
to $681 billion.
Of Syria’s 18.4 million people, there are only 150-178,000 active personnel.
The US military, on the other hand, has a little over 2 million personnel, of which
1.28 million work as active personnel, and 800,000 are reserves.
It also has some of the best special forces outfits in the world.
The United States has a hefty 8,848 tanks against Syria’s smaller number of 4,600
tanks.
And with Armored fighting vehicles, Syria is far out matched with The United States
holding 46,000 vehicles, to Syria’s 4,000.
Other land vehicles include self-propelled artillery with The United States holding more
than double at 950 to Syria’s 460, and rocket artillery where The US has 1197 to Syria’s
582.
When it comes to airpower, The United States also far outweighs Syria, with a total number
of 13,362 aircraft vs Syria’s 706.
With fighters, The United States has 388 and Syria is a little closer at 278.
Multirole aircraft, The US has 2,062 to Syria’s 40, and other aircraft, including attack aircraft,
The United States has 470, Syria 120.
As for helicopters, The United States has as many as 5,000 to Syria’s 163.
Looking at naval power, The US also shadows Syria with 436 total ships to Syria’s 64.
Where The United States has 20 aircraft carriers [navodilo za script preperatorja: tukaj na
zaslon dodajmo text kjer pise: “The U.S. Navy operates 20 ships that could be called
aircraft carriers, but only considers 10 to be actual carriers.”
and 85 destroyers, Syria has zero.
And under the water the United States has 70 submarines to Syria’s 2.
A battle fought at sea between these two nations, would be a very one-sided contest.
And what about nuclear arsenal?
The United States was the first country to manufacture nuclear weapons and to date is
the only country to have used them in war, with the bombings at Hiroshima and Nagasaki
in World War II.
As of 2017, according to the Federation of Nuclear Scientists, The United States has
a total of 6,800 useable warheads, of which 1,800 are deployed, 4,000 are stock piled,
and 2,800 are retired.
Though at one time it’s thought Syria did seek to develop nuclear weapons with help
from North Korea, in 2007 the Israeli Air Force destroyed its plutonium production reactor
and Syria is not known to have any nuclear warheads.
Oil is also an essential ingredient when it comes to fighting and winning wars, and an
abundance of fuel is required to power tanks, aircraft and warships.
Current figures for Syria are hard to find, with the civil war that’s being fought,
but as of 2012, consumption was 258,800 barrels per day, production was 182,500 barrels per
day, and reserves were 2.5 billion barrels.
While the United States consumes an average of about 19.9 million barrels per day, they
produce 9.3 million barrels per day, and has, in reserves, about 35.2 billion barrels.
Another factor of strength when fighting wars is the number of overseas military bases a
country has.
The United States outnumbers all other countries in this area and still maintains nearly 800
military bases in more than 70 countries and territories abroad.
And though Syria plays host to other countries military bases, by contrast, they have none
overseas of their own.
Who you partner with is also important when it comes to combat, and today The US maintains
military alliances with as many as 60 countries, including the mighty NATO military bloc in
Europe, Israel and a string of Gulf countries in the Middle East, Japan and South Korea
in East Asia, and Australia in the South Pacific.
Since the ongoing civil war, Syria has been increasingly isolated from countries in the
region, and the wider international community.
Syria does continue to foster good relations with its traditional allies, Iran and Russia,
and in total has 38 allied connections.
That’s a brief comparison of the US and Syria’s military capability.
Do you think Syria could even stand a chance?
If so, under what circumstances?
Let us know in the comments!
Also, be sure to check out our other video called Russia vs The United States!
Thanks for watching, and, as always, don’t forget to like, share, and subscribe.
See you next time!