Which Arab Country Has Strongest Military?

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Why don't you tell us what you know about the arab militaries? Then use that knowledge to tell us which military is strongest? Then tell us WHY you think it is stronger than others in the region? Then tell us which factors you used to determine that?

Thats about 5-8 paragraphs of post that SHOULD HAVE BEEN POSTED not just a useless ONE LINER. Please detail your threads/posts/replies to stimulate better debate among the members, thanks.
 

vijayshimla

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which arab country has strongest military

On paper Soudi Arabia- atleast it has the most modern equippment, all the latest US Aircraft and Armour, and money- but what its capabilities in field of war are only allah knows!, i think most pilots are Pakistani, and who will go into to combat is unknown ! Israel does not have to fear Soudi Military or any other Arab Military.
 

fylr71

New Member
In terms of overall military strength it has to be the Saudis or Egyptians. The Saudis have 315 M1A2 tanks and are going to be recieving 58 M1A2SEP. The Egyptians have over 750 M1A1 tanks. In terms of APC/IFV, The Saudis have Bradleys, LAVs, Mowag Piranha, and varients of the M113 whereas the Egyptians equipment mostly consists of old Soviet equipment with the exception of the M113.The Egyptians have a larger army but the Saudis have the advantage of American military assistance with training they also have better communication equipment. Also in the case of a war the Egyptians have a large trained reserve to call on. Both countries possess the AH-64 but it is the Egyptians that have the AH-64D. As long as the Saudi army stayed loyal they almost certainly have a superior army to the Egyptians. In the air the Egyptians modern fighter inventory consists of 20 Mirage 2000C and over 200 F-16 40 of them are block 30/32 and about 130 of them are of the modern block 40 configuration. They also have some E-2 hawkeyes. The Saudis have 96 Tornado IDS, about 60 F-15C/D, and about 70 F-15s (Similar to the F-15E but less advanced). Additionally the Saudis have an order for 72 Eurofighter Typhoons to begin deliveries in 2008. The Saudis undoubtedly have the strongest airforce (except for Israel) in the region. In terms of Navies the Egyptians have 2 Jianghu class patrol frigates, 2 Knox class anti-submarine frigates, and 4 Olivar Hazard Perry class frigates. The Saudis have three Lafayette type stealth frigates which are far superior to anything the Egyptians have.
There is no doubt that if the soldiers stayed loyal to the government and did not desert, Saudi Arabia has absolutely the most powerful military (Except Israel) in the middle east
 

TrangleC

New Member
The Egyptian hardware doesn't sound that bad either. Actually i'm astonished that the USA provided all this to a country that was at war with Israel several times and isn't that far from the brink of a islamistic revolution. But that applies to Saudi Arabia too, i guess.

If the Iran-thing would happen again in one or even both of that countries, Israel could be in serious trouble this time.
 
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alfred

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TrangleC said:
The Egyptian hardware doesn't sound that bad either. Actually i'm astonished that the USA provided all this to a country that was at war with Israel several times and isn't that far from the brink of a islamistic revolution. But that applies to Saudi Arabia too, i guess.

If the Iran-thing would happen again in one or even both oth that countries, Israel could be in serious trouble this time.
israel has the 4th strongest military in the world. i dont see ,amy arb countries taking the on one on one. and the all at the same time like the usually do israel still has the upper hand b/c america would not have that happen. and that would be the perfect reason for america to invade saudi arabia, iran, and many me oil rich countries.
 

atilla

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alfred said:
israel has the 4th strongest military in the world. i dont see ,amy arb countries taking the on one on one. and the all at the same time like the usually do israel still has the upper hand b/c america would not have that happen. and that would be the perfect reason for america to invade saudi arabia, iran, and many me oil rich countries.
to compare armıes ın papers may be fıt ın western style or ın theır battels but to mıd east story ıs dıfferent u cant compare them only ın papers

lıke an old sıpahı motto the more armor they use we wıll use less
 

uaf

New Member
alfred said:
israel has the 4th strongest military in the world. i dont see ,amy arb countries taking the on one on one. and the all at the same time like the usually do israel still has the upper hand b/c america would not have that happen. and that would be the perfect reason for america to invade saudi arabia, iran, and many me oil rich countries.
Well true Israel is the strongest Military in the Middle East lets just don’t talk about who will invade who it will put flames in this thread, but just to reply you if there will be a war between Israel and Saudi Arabia than U.S invades Saudi Arabia than the Muslims from the whole world will join this war which will end up as world war 3 (due to the holy sites for Muslims in Saudi Arabia) and GOD know what will happen than but lets just don’t discuses that …..

True there are many Pakistani pilots flying Saudi planes but still U.S provides most of help in training the Saudi Armed forces.

Coming back to topic today’s Egypt is very much different from the one in 1967 and one of the biggest allay of the U.S in the middle east that’s the reason America is providing modern military equipment to it.
 

TrangleC

New Member
I simply mean that more than 750 M1A1 together with 60 modern attack helicopters and an airforce that mostly consists of F-16 would be quite a different thread than the old T-62 tanks and old MIG fighters were the last time Egypt fought against Israel.

And the Saudi stats look even better or worse, depending on which side the beholder is. The Typhoon will certainly be superior to everything Israel has in the air for a while, the modernized F-16 and F-15 are equal to those of Israel and the Tornados are old but still very special and powerful machines that are able to penetrate every air space if used the right way.
A combined attack of that airforce could even cripple the world's 4th most powerful army, if that is what the IDF really is, what i doubt.
 

Waylander

Defense Professional
Verified Defense Pro
I thougth Egypt is no arab state.
Or are we talking of muslim states?

BTW, in the last war between Egypt and Israel, the IDF also not fielded the high-tech equipment they have today. ;)
During the Sinai campaign for example the IDF had to annhilate the egypt SAM bases by using ground forces because they caused too much damage on the IAF.

The main problem I see for Saudi-Arabia is manning their equipment. I heard that most arab countrys (S-A, Kuwait, UAE, etc) have problems to find enough qualified personal.
 
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Waylander

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Another problem of these states is that they are dependent on military supply from the US.
 

contedicavour

New Member
The strongest Arab country in terms of arms forces is Egypt, no contest there. Saudi may have ultra modern weaponry but it lacks training. Just an example : one of the 3 modified Lafayette FFGs just handed to Saudi was almost lost in an exercise in the Red Sea. The Madinah FFGs operate only 3 weeks a year.
Egypt has both a quantitative and a qualitative edge over any other Arab country (latest F16s, huge force of M1A1, OHP FFGs...) and also happens to have the largest population, which obviously helps. Last but not least, its economy is not oil dependent, which also limits the effect of the oil price going down (it can happen :p: ).
If you are thinking of the best armed forces in the entire Middle East however, then Turkey and Israel are better positioned than Egypt. But obviously neither Turkey nor Israel are Arab.

cheers
 

contedicavour

New Member
Waylander said:
Another problem of these states is that they are dependent on military supply from the US.
That's true, but historically all regional armed forces are or were dependent on the USSR/Russia or on the US (or arguably in the '50s and '60s on the UK, as Jordan).
No Arab country is autonomous from the US or Russia.
If you enlarge to the whole Middle East, Turkey will one day become autonomous, but we still aren't there. Israel still relies on the US for a significant part of its arsenal.

cheers
 

Waylander

Defense Professional
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But I think Russia is much more willing to sell weapons, spare parts and ammo to them in times of conflicts.
 

fylr71

New Member
If you enlarge to the whole Middle East, Turkey will one day become autonomous, but we still aren't there. Israel still relies on the US for a significant part of its arsenal.

cheers[/QUOTE]

Israel currently produces their own tanks (Merkava) which are some of the best in the world, they also are completely autonomous in terms of small arms, APC/IFV, Artillery, and have the ability to produce their own fighters as shown by the Lavi program.

Turkey is still a ways away form becoming autonomous but they do have a desire for autonomy. At this point however the only piece of equipment designed and produced indiginously is the AVC-S which appears to be on the level of some of the better IFVs in the world (Bradley, Warrior, Dardo, Pizzaro/Uhlan);)
 

TrangleC

New Member
The question is just do they have enough weapons in their stoks to deal a serious blow to Israel? Because the only scenario in which Egypt and Saudi Arabia would attack Israel would be after a islamistic revolution and the people who would take over power in such a case simply might not care much for whether they lose american support.

In such a case Russia even might pretty fast replace the USA as the big spender, speculating on replacing the USA as the big brother of the Middle East.
They might certainly not ship enough modern tanks to Egypt or Saudi Arabia for them to replace their losses in a war against Israel and the USA in real time, but they might flood them with advanced anti tank and anti aircraft weapons.

That might seem like a very grimm and unlikely scenario now, but who knows were the new lean and mean and increasingly rich Russia is going during the next 10 years and how bad the relations of "Neocon-USA" with Russia and the Arabs will become...?
 

TrangleC

New Member
Saudi Arabia never was at war with Israel.
And that was just what i was talking about. In those previous wars, Syria, Egypt, Lebanon and Jordan only had very old and outdated russian equipment that hardly was a match for what the Israelis already had then.
Nowadays Egypt has american M1A1 tanks (quite a lot of them, actually), AH-64 attack helicopters (Israelis forces never faced attack helicopters in war before, as far as i know) and modern aircrafts. So the odds would be quite different if there ever would be a conflict between those two countries again.
 

Waylander

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Verified Defense Pro
fylr71 said:
If you enlarge to the whole Middle East, Turkey will one day become autonomous, but we still aren't there. Israel still relies on the US for a significant part of its arsenal.

cheers
Israel currently produces their own tanks (Merkava) which are some of the best in the world, they also are completely autonomous in terms of small arms, APC/IFV, Artillery, and have the ability to produce their own fighters as shown by the Lavi program.

Turkey is still a ways away form becoming autonomous but they do have a desire for autonomy. At this point however the only piece of equipment designed and produced indiginously is the AVC-S which appears to be on the level of some of the better IFVs in the world (Bradley, Warrior, Dardo, Pizzaro/Uhlan);)[/QUOTE]

Israel still gets 18-20 billion dollars military aid form the US with which they buy US equipment at good conditions.
We pay for their new subs.

They are in no way autonomous.
Main small arms: M-16, M-4, etc.
Main artillery system: M-109
Main fighters: F-15, F-16
Main attack helicopters: Apache, Cobra
Main transport helicopters: S-70, CH-47
Main subs: French and german
Main surface ships: US
...

Many of these systems include some kind of israeli tech in it but in the end they have a very big problem if all other countries would stop supplying them.
 
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