Who are the Top 5 Middle East militaries? | World Defense

Who are the Top 5 Middle East militaries?

Scorpion

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Quantity:

1-Egypt
2-Iran
3-Turkey
4- Saudi Arabia

Quality:

1-Saudi Arabia
2-Israel
3-Turkey
4-Egypt
6-Iran

Quality and quantity

1- Saudi Arabia
2- Turkey
3- Israel
4- Egypt
 

Scorpion

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I would love to know the criteria used for the above classification.

Sure,

Quantity:

1-Egypt Number of active personnel+ reverse fit for service
2-Iran Number of active personnel+ reverse fit for service
3-Turkey Number of active personnel+ reverse fit for service
4- Saudi Arabia Number of active personnel+ reverse fit for service

Quality:

1-Saudi Arabia Air force, Navy and Land forces operate the state of the art weaponry both in quantity and quality
2-Israel Air Force, Navy is partially neglected, Land forces are well prepared to secure Israel not to wage large scale war, No medium/long air defense system, No geographical depth
3-Turkey failry modrinzied airforce, Land forces are huge in number but lack the necessary equipments, Navy is well modernized and are up to date but lack surface to air missiles
4-Egypt Air force is not that bade however Egypt doesn't have BVR in its inventory not sure if the recent deal with France includes BVR or not, Navy is much better with the introduction of the Mistral but the rest are not up to date, dusty and rusty
6-Iran Lack Air force, well equipped and trained land forces, no short/medium/long air defence system and lastly none modernized naval forces. Missiles are not be seen as a threat because most of them if not all are none guided and can easily be intercepted by its enemy Saudi Arabia has the THAAD and PAC-3.

Considering the above we can conclude:

Quality and quantity

1- Saudi Arabia balanced in number but far advanced in quality like the rest of the advanced armies e.g. the US, Germany, France when quality is more important the quantity.
2- Turkey Navy and Air force
3- Israel Air force but not naval forces
4- Egypt Not Air force nor naval forces compare to the list above.
 

Falcon29

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Turkey and Israel are two most powerful nations in the Middle East. Israel has slightly better Air Force and nuclear strike capabilities. In every other category I'd say Turkey is superior. Israel has very good armor however, based of M1A1 platform.

Then I would say a tie between Iran and Egypt. Iran's economy and political state is hindering it's ability to modernize it's army. It has experience in unconventional warfare and can be effective one way or another. Egypt is a strong nation with good overall Navy, Air Force and Army. It's ground troops need more funding and better training, however. The economy does not help their case.

After them it's Saudi Arabia and Saudi Arabia is catching up fast. But, political structure hinders the ability for the army to develop. Recently the crown prince sacked many military leaders to modernize the leadership and develop the army. So we will see results in coming years.

Everyone else has no need to develop an capable army and aren't looking for war.
 

Scorpion

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Turkey and Israel are two most powerful nations in the Middle East. Israel has slightly better Air Force and nuclear strike capabilities. In every other category I'd say Turkey is superior. Israel has very good armor however, based of M1A1 platform.

Then I would say a tie between Iran and Egypt. Iran's economy and political state is hindering it's ability to modernize it's army. It has experience in unconventional warfare and can be effective one way or another. Egypt is a strong nation with good overall Navy, Air Force and Army. It's ground troops need more funding and better training, however. The economy does not help their case.

After them it's Saudi Arabia and Saudi Arabia is catching up fast. But, political structure hinders the ability for the army to develop. Recently the crown prince sacked many military leaders to modernize the leadership and develop the army. So we will see results in coming years.

Everyone else has no need to develop an capable army and aren't looking for war.

Care to elaborate on the point regarding Saudi Arabia?
 

Falcon29

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Care to elaborate on the point regarding Saudi Arabia?

I believe Saudi Arabia lacks in experience in conventional warfare compared to those other four nations I mentioned. So that alone is hard dilemma to deal with. You do have experience in unconventional warfare and can learn a lot with the campaign against Houthi's in Yemen. Your Air Force is gaining experience too. I don't think Saudi Arabia needs as much equipment as it thinks it needs, it needs clear goals for the army. It needs to move away more from focus on internal security and focus on conventional warfare. Leave the internal security to the security ministry.

Then outline clear goals for the army, what capacity does the government want the army to function at? What are their annual goals for it? Once you have a focus and understand what you are seeking, everything will fall in place. Then you will have smaller military budget. Yet remain just as efficient. Especially once you develop domestic military industry. So I believe you need time and need experience. I don't think you have capability like Turkey or Israel to intervene directly or undertake military campaigns in Syria for example. You could learn this if you undertake campaign in Yemen with your ground forces. They have to implement operational plans on ground to see if it works and be able to know what you need to improve.

It takes time and experience, Turkey has been in numerous conflicts and is battle tested. Israel has been battle tested too. Iran I don't think fairs off well in conventional warfare but they have found some strengths which they improve upon. Egypt has been battle tested in conventional warfare obviously.
 
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