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Military power of Turkey & China

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Turkey vs China

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Turkey China

Turkey is a country located in Southeastern Europe and Southwestern Asia (that portion of Turkey west of the Bosporus is geographically part of Europe) with an area of 783,562 km2 (land boundries: 2,816 km and costline 7,200 km). The capital of Turkey is Ankara. The number of inhabitants is 83,614,362.

Turkey has been a member of NATO since 1952 and hosts NATO's Land Forces Command in Izmir. Under a long-range strategic plan, the Turkish Armed Forces continued efforts to modernize its equipment and force structure. The Turkish Armed Forces inventory is mostly comprised of a mix of domestically-produced and Western weapons systems. In 2019 Turkey purchased the Russian S-400 air defense system. That complicated its relationship with NATO. Turkey has a strong defense industry capable of producing a range of weapons systems for both export and internal use.

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China is a country located in Eastern Asia with an area of 9,596,961 km2 (land boundries: 22,457 km and costline 14,500 km). The capital of China is Beijing. The number of inhabitants is 1,444,390,177.

The People's Liberation Army is the military arm of the ruling Chinese Communist Party, which oversees the PLA through its Central Military Commission. The PLA is outfitted primarily with a wide mix of older and modern domestically-produced systems heavily influenced by technology derived from other countries. Russia is the main supplier military equipment outside the domestic industry.

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If you want to check the comparison in terms of economic ratios check out CompareEconomy.com

Military expenditures

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Military budget: 15.5 billion $ 293 billion $
Percent of GDP: 2.1% 1.7%

Military budget

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Highest value in the world: 816 billion $ (USA)
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Manpower

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Active personnel: 425,000 2,035,000
Reserve personnel: 200,000 2,000,000
Available for military: 21,079,077 385,821,101

Active

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Highest value in the world: 2,035,000 (China)
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Land Forces

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Tanks: 3,017 5,750
Armoured fighting vehicles: 11,450 14,130
Total artillery: 2,521 7,094
Self-propelled artillery: 943 2,720
Rocket artillery: 399 3,140

Tanks

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Highest value in the world: 12,267 (Russia)
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Air Forces

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Total aircraft: 1,573 4,630
Fighter aircraft: 48 1,049
Multirole aircraft: 245 1,130
Attack aircraft: 0 120
Helicopters: 676 1,355
UCAV (combat drone): 172 151

Total aircraft

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Highest value in the world: 12,930 (USA)
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Navy

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Total naval: 154 742
Aircraftcarriers: 0 4
Destroyers: 0 38
Frigates: 16 54
Corvettes: 10 73
Submarines: 12 74

Total naval

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Highest value in the world: 967 (North Korea)
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Nuclear weapons

Turkey

Turkey participates in the NATO nuclear weapons sharing arrangements and trains for delivering United States nuclear warheads.

China

The last of five nuclear-weapon states under the NPT, which at this moment possesses approximately 280 nuclear warheads in total. Nevertheless, the number of deployed bombs is unknown. The first test that occurred to be successful occurred in 1964. The main goal of Chinese was to build a deterrent against two major nuclear powers, namely The United States as well as The Soviet Union. The nation decided to choose dried lake for the nuclear site, Lop Nur. Although China developed and tested its first atomic device only in 1964, they managed to test their first hydrogen bomb only 32 months later. As a result, they can boast with the shortest period between developing fission and fusion technology.

China managed to conduct 45 tests of nuclear weapons. Still, the data regarding the stockpile of accumulated warheads is uncertain. The same thing concerns the number of deployed warheads. It is all due to the limited information that the country provides. We should also bear in mind that they are the only country out of five nuclear-weapon states under the NPT that does not give a positive security assurance.

Military service

Turkey

21-41 years of age for male compulsory military service; 18 years of age for voluntary service; 12 months conscript obligation for non-university graduates, 6-12 months for university graduates (graduates of higher education may perform 6 months of military service as short-term privates, or 12 months as reserve officers); conscripts are called to register at age 20, for service at 21; women serve in the Turkish Armed Forces only as officers; reserve obligation to age 41; Turkish citizens with a residence or work permit who have worked abroad for at least 3 years (1095 days) can be exempt from military service in exchange for 6,000 EUR or its equivalent in foreign currencies; a law passed in December 2014 introduced a one-time payment scheme which exempted Turkish citizens 27 and older from conscription in exchange for a payment of $8,150.

China

18-24 years of age for selective compulsory military service, with a 2-year service obligation; no minimum age for voluntary service (all officers are volunteers); 18-19 years of age for women high school graduates who meet requirements for specific military jobs; a recent military decision allows women in combat roles.