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Military power of United Kingdom & European Union EU

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United Kingdom vs European Union EU

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United Kingdom European Union EU

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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The European Union (EU) is a political and economic union countries that are located in Europe with an area of 4,233,255 km2 The capital of Ukraine is Brussels. The number of inhabitants estimated is about 447 million. Members of EU: Germany, Latvia, France, Lithuania, Estonia, Portugal, Belgium, Austria, Bulgaria, Croatia, Sweden, Cyprus, Czechia, Denmark, Finland, Ireland, Hungary, Greece, Italy, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, Poland, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia and Spain.

The European Union were not devised as a military alliance because most of the members are in the North Atlantic Alliance. Since the withdrawal of the UK, France is the only member recognised as a nuclear weapon state. Italy, Germany, the Netherlands and Belgium participate in NATO nuclear sharing.

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

Military expenditures

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Military budget: 58.2 billion $ 245.11 billion $
Percent of GDP: 2.2% 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: 148,220 1,166,519
Reserve personnel: 37,000 1,801,532
Available for military: 14,856,917 92,594,951

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: 286 4,253
Armoured fighting vehicles: 4,644 29,418
Total artillery: 259 6,065
Self-propelled artillery: 89 1,872
Rocket artillery: 44 667

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: 996 5,420
Fighter aircraft: 157 453
Multirole aircraft: 21 874
Attack aircraft: 0 162
Helicopters: 359 2,454
UCAV (combat drone): 9 41

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: 74 1,306
Aircraftcarriers: 1 7
Destroyers: 6 19
Frigates: 12 69
Corvettes: 0 23
Submarines: 10 48

Total naval

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Highest value in the world: 967 (North Korea)
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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.

European Union EU

Data not available

Military service

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.

European Union EU

Data not available