Global Firepower, a U.S.-based independent defense think tank, has placed Ukraine 29th in its 2018 global ranking of military power.
Ukraine has risen one place compared to its 2017 ranking. The ranking covers 132 countries. Ukraine, with its 29th place in 2018, has a PowerIndex of 0.5383. Last year, its index was 0.5715 points.
Providing more details, Global Firepower estimated the nation’s active service manpower at 182,000 troops, in addition to more 1 million persons in reserve. Besides, Global Firepower said Ukraine’s defense budget was some $4.8 billion in 2018, 40th biggest in the world, and comparable to the defense budgets of Malaysia, Belgium or Switzerland.
Global Firepower said Ukraine currently fields 2,214 main battle tanks, 11,868 infantry fighting vehicles, and 2,971 self-propelled and towed artillery pieces, and 625 rocket systems.
It also estimated that Ukraine has 240 aircraft in service, including 39 fighters, 64 attack aircraft, 121 transport aircraft and 46 trainer aircraft, in addition to 94 helicopters, including 34 attack helicopters.
However, Global Firepower said Ukraine’s navy, which lost most of its vessels during Russia’s annexation of Crimea in 2014, remains weak. As of today, Ukraine’s navy has a single frigate, one corvette, and one minesweeping vessel.
According to this year’s rating, the world’s top five militaries are the United States, Russia, China, India, and France – the same as in 2017.
Kyiv Post
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