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Military power of United Kingdom & France

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United Kingdom vs France

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United Kingdom France

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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France is a country located in Western Europe with an area of 640,679 km2 (land boundries: 3,956 km and costline 4,853 km). The capital of France is Paris. The number of inhabitants is 67,413,000.

France was one of the original 12 countries to sign the North Atlantic Treaty, which created NATO in 1949. France and the UK signed in 2010 a declaration on defense and security cooperation that included greater military interoperability and a Combined Joint Expeditionary Force. The CJEF was assessed as having full operating capacity with the ability to rapidly deploy over 10,000 personnel. The French military's inventory consists mostly of domestically-produced weapons systems, including some jointly-produced with other European countries. France has a defense industry capable of manufacturing the full spectrum of military weapons systems.

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If you want to check the comparison in terms of economic ratios check out United Kingdom - France

Military expenditures

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Military budget: 75 billion $ 60 billion $
Percent of GDP: 2.3% 1.9%

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: 148,220 270,000
Reserve personnel: 37,000 141,050
Available for military: 14,856,917 14,563,662

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: 272 406
Armoured fighting vehicles: 4,338 6,748
Total artillery: 238 119
Self-propelled artillery: 71 96
Rocket artillery: 41 11

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: 869 1,143
Fighter aircraft: 107 26
Multirole aircraft: 33 144
Attack aircraft: 0 66
Helicopters: 269 478
UCAV (combat drone): 10 16

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: 111 111
Aircraftcarriers: 2 4
Destroyers: 6 10
Frigates: 9 12
Corvettes: 0 0
Submarines: 10 10

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.

France

France managed to research and develop its own nuclear weapon in 1960. The test, known as, Gerboise Bleue, was the result of mostly French research. One of the main figures that played crucial role in the entire process of developing the bomb was General Pierre Marie Gallois. He was concerned that the Suez Crisis, which started in 1956, would show the world how insignificant France became, since out of all Great Powers in the world, they were the only one without possessing its own nuclear arsenal. The tests were conducted on the terrains of Sahara Desert.

At this moment France owns 300 nuclear warheads, out of which almost all are deployed. What is more, compared to Great Britain, they made more tests, approximately 210. Noteworthy is the fact that the development of the first nuclear bomb in France as well as its tests were a bit controversial. It was due to the fact that France allowed Israeli observers to attend the tests, providing them with almost unrestricted access to all the data. It was quite important, since Israel, together with United Kingdom and France, were trying to invade Egypt.

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.

France

18-25 years of age for male and female voluntary military service; no conscription; 1-year service obligation; women serve in noncombat post.