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Military power of Switzerland & United Kingdom

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Switzerland vs United Kingdom

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Switzerland United Kingdom

Switzerland is a country located in Central Europe with an area of 41,285 km2 (land boundries: 1,770 km and costline 0 km (landlocked)). The capital of Switzerland is Bern. The number of inhabitants is 8,570,146.

Switzerland has long maintained a policy of military neutrality, but does periodically participate in EU, NATO, Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe. Swiss law excludes participation in combat operations for peace enforcement, and Swiss units will only participate in operations under the mandate of the UN or OSCE. The Swiss Armed Forces inventory includes a mix of domestically-produced and imported weapons systems. The United States is the leading supplier of military armaments.

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United Kingdom is a country located in Western Europe with an area of 242,495 km2 (land boundries: 499 km and costline 12,429 km). The capital of United Kingdom is London. The number of inhabitants is 67,886,004.

the UK is a member of NATO and was one of the original 12 countries to sign the North Atlantic Treaty in 1949. The UK is also a member of the Five Powers Defense Arrangements reached in 1971 embracing also Australia, Malaysia, New Zealand, Singapore. The inventory of the British military is comprised of a mix of domestically-produced and imported Western weapons systems. The Uunited States is the leading supplier of armaments. United Kingdom defense industry is capable of producing a wide variety of weapons systems and is one of the world's top weapons suppliers.

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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: 6.3 billion $ 75 billion $
Percent of GDP: 0.7% 2.3%

Military budget

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Highest value in the world: 916 billion $ (USA)
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Manpower

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Active personnel: 140,000 148,220
Reserve personnel: 80,000 37,000
Available for military: 1,852,580 14,856,917

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: 224 272
Armoured fighting vehicles: 1,808 4,338
Total artillery: 176 238
Self-propelled artillery: 176 71
Rocket artillery: 0 41

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: 178 869
Fighter aircraft: 27 107
Multirole aircraft: 25 33
Attack aircraft: 0 0
Helicopters: 57 269
UCAV (combat drone): 0 10

Total aircraft

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Highest value in the world: 13,175 (USA)
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Navy

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Total naval: 0 111
Aircraftcarriers: 0 2
Destroyers: 0 6
Frigates: 0 9
Corvettes: 0 0
Submarines: 0 10

Total naval

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

Switzerland

Does not have nuclear weapons.

United Kingdom

Third out of fifth nuclear-weapon states that are under the NPT, the treaty of the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons. The first successful test in the nuclear history of Great Britain occurred in October 1952, three years after Russia’s first successful attempt. “Hurricane”, which was the codename for the test assumed the use of 3 megaton bomb, which was dropped in Australia. The UK itself did not have many tests after that. Comparing to a thousand and hundreds of tests by Americans and Russians, the Brits made only 45 tests of nuclear arsenal.

We should remember about the fact that United Kingdom was in a strict cooperation with United States at the very beginning. It means that we cannot forget about the tremendous help the Americans received from the British government and men of science while developing their first nuclear bomb. Unfortunately, all the data that USA could not be sent back to the UK, since the cooperation has ended prematurely. This was one of the reasons why UK developed their first nuclear weapon so late. At this moment, they possess 215 warheads in total, out of which 120 is deployed and completely operational.

Military service

Switzerland

19-26 years of age for male compulsory military service; 18 years of age for voluntary male and female military service; every Swiss male has to serve at least 260 days in the armed forces; conscripts receive 18 weeks of mandatory training, followed by seven 3-week intermittent recalls for training during the next 10 years.

United Kingdom

16-33 years of age (officers 17-28) for voluntary military service (with parental consent under 18); no conscription; women serve in military services, but are excluded from ground combat positions and some naval postings; must be citizen of the UK, Commonwealth, or Republic of Ireland; reservists serve a minimum of 3 years, to age 45 or 55; 17 years 6 months of age for voluntary military service by Nepalese citizens in the Brigade of Gurkhas; 16-34 years of age for voluntary military service by Papua New Guinean citizens.