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Military power of United Kingdom & Turkey

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United Kingdom vs Turkey

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United Kingdom Turkey

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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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.

More about Turkey military

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

Military expenditures

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small flag TR

Military budget

+
75 billion $
15.8 billion $

Percent of GDP

+
2.3 %
1.5 %

Manpower

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small flag TR

Active personnel

+
148,220
425,000

Reserve personnel

+
37,000
200,000

Available for military

+
14,856,917
21,079,077

Land Forces

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small flag TR
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Tanks

+
272
2,203
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Armoured fighting vehicles

+
4,338
9,323
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Total artillery

+
238
3,103
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Self-propelled artillery

+
71
1,034
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Rocket artillery

+
41
322

Air Forces

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small flag TR
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Total aircraft

+
869
1,408
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Fighter

+
107
19
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Multirole

+
33
234
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Attack

+
0
0
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Helicopters

+
269
349
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UCAV (combat drone)

+
10
443

Navy

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small flag TR
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Total naval

+
111
191
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Aircraft carriers

+
2
1
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Destroyers

+
6
0
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Frigates

+
9
17
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Corvettes

+
0
9
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Submarines

+
10
12

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.

Turkey

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

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.

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.