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Military power of Russia & China and North Korea

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Russia vs China and North Korea

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Russia China and North Korea

Russia is a country located in North Asia bordering the Arctic Ocean with an area of 17,098,242 km2 (land boundries: 22,407 km and costline 37,653 km). The capital of Russia is Moscow. The number of inhabitants is 146,171,015.

On 24 February 2022, Russia invaded Ukraine with an estimated 150 k troops. Russia is the leading member of the Collective Security Treaty Organization. The Russian Federation's military is equipped with domestically-produced weapons systems. Russia is the world's second largest exporter of military hardware and has the world's largest stockpile of nuclear weapons.

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The China-DPRK Treaty on Friendship is a treaty signed on 11 July 1961 between North Korea and China. The treaty obligates China militarily to defend North Korea and vice versa.North Korea enjoys a close relationship with China which is often called North Korea's closest ally. The relations were strained in the last few years because of China's concerns about North Korea's nuclear program. Both countries have nuclear weapons.

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

Military expenditures

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Military budget: 65.9 billion $ 294.6 billion $
Percent of GDP: 4.1% 0%

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: 1,000,000 3,315,000
Reserve personnel: 2,000,000 2,600,000
Available for military: 34,765,736 392,336,380

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: 12,267 11,750
Armoured fighting vehicles: 24,172 18,130
Total artillery: 18,266 20,094
Self-propelled artillery: 6,443 7,220
Rocket artillery: 4,331 7,140

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: 4,418 5,590
Fighter aircraft: 340 1,398
Multirole aircraft: 382 1,165
Attack aircraft: 689 308
Helicopters: 1,665 1,557
UCAV (combat drone): 100 151

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: 653 1,709
Aircraftcarriers: 1 4
Destroyers: 14 38
Frigates: 11 56
Corvettes: 80 81
Submarines: 66 146

Total naval

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

Russia

The second most important state when it comes to researching, developing, and then storing nuclear weapon. Although the Russians managed to catch up with Americans later on, it was only in 1949 that the first nuclear test conducted by then the Soviet Union occurred. It was still quite a surprise for the Western Powers, who believed that Russia won’t be capable of producing nuclear warheads until 1953-1954. After the first test, the nation in question started to rapidly increase the amount of warheads they possessed. In the end of 1980s, they were the leading power when it comes to total number of warheads stored. It was approximately 40,000 warheads.

Nowadays, similarly to United States, the Russians store a total number of 6490 warheads, what is scarcely more than USA. When it comes to the number of deployed warheads, the amount is the same as in case of Americans, namely 1600 deployed warheads. We should also remember about the fact that Russia conducted over 700 tests, what makes them the second most important nation when it comes to developing nuclear weapons. However, it was the Soviet Union that managed to create the biggest bomb in the world. Known as Tsar Bomba, it had blast yield of 50 megatons of TNT.

China and North Korea

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Military service

Russia

18-27 years of age for compulsory or voluntary military service; males are registered for the draft at 17 years of age; 1-year service obligation (conscripts can only be sent to combat zones after 6 months of training); reserve obligation for non-officers to age 50; enrollment in military schools from the age of 16, cadets classified as members of the armed forces.

China and North Korea

Data not available