RANKED: The world's 20 strongest militaries

Despite budget cuts and a reduction in size, the US has maintained its position as the

world's strongest military. Russia and China are its closest rivals. Canada, however, is the

weakest of the 20 countries on the list.

To provide a benchmark, the report assigns weighted values for six variables before

tabulating a final score. The factors under consideration for military strength and their total

weights are number of active personnel (5% of total score), tanks (10%), attack helicopters

(15%), aircraft (20%), aircraft carriers (25%), and submarines (25%).

No. 20. Canada

Budget: $15.7 billion

Active frontline personnel: 92,000

Tanks: 181

Total aircraft: 420

Submarines: 4

No. 19. Indonesia

Budget: $6.9 billion

Active frontline personnel: 476,000

Tanks: 468

Total aircraft: 405

Submarines: 2

No. 18. Germany

Budget: $40.2 billion

Active frontline personnel: 179,046

Tanks: 408

Total aircraft: 663

Submarines: 4

No. 17. Poland

Budget: $9.4 billion

Active frontline personnel: 120,000

Tanks: 1,009

Total aircraft: 467

Submarines: 5

No. 16. Thailand

Budget: $5.39 billion

Active frontline personnel: 306,000

Tanks: 722

Total aircraft: 573

Submarines: 0

No. 15. Australia

Budget: $26.1 billion

Active frontline personnel: 58,000

Tanks: 59

Total aircraft: 408

Submarines: 6

No. 14. Israel

Budget: $17 billion

Active frontline personnel: 160,000

Tanks: 4,170

Total aircraft: 684

Submarines: 5
No. 13. Taiwan

Budget: $10.7 billion

Active frontline personnel: 290,000

Tanks: 2,005

Total aircraft: 804

Submarines: 4

No. 12. Egypt

Budget: $4.4 billion

Active frontline personnel: 468,500

Tanks: 4,624

Total aircraft: 1,107

Submarines: 4

No. 11. Pakistan

Budget: $7 billion

Active frontline personnel: 617,000

Tanks: 2,924

Total aircraft: 914

Submarines: 8

No. 10. Turkey

Budget: $18.2 billion

Active frontline personnel: 410,500

Tanks: 3,778

Total aircraft: 1,020

Submarines: 13

No. 9. UK
Budget: $60.5 billion

Active frontline personnel: 146,980

Tanks: 407

Total aircraft: 936

Submarines: 10

No. 8. Italy

Budget: $34 billion

Active frontline personnel: 320,000

Tanks: 586

Total aircraft: 760

Submarines: 6

No. 7. South Korea

Budget: $62.3 billion

Active frontline personnel: 624,465

Tanks: 2,381

Total aircraft: 1,412

Submarines: 13

No. 6. France

Budget: $62.3 billion

Active frontline personnel: 202,761

Tanks: 423

Total aircraft: 1,264

Submarines: 10

No. 5. India

Budget: $50 billion

Active frontline personnel: 1,325,000

Tanks: 6,464

Total aircraft: 1,905

Submarines: 15

No. 4. Japan

Budget: $41.6 billion

Active frontline personnel: 247,173

Tanks: 678

Total aircraft: 1,613

Submarines: 16

No. 3. China

Budget: $216 billion

Active frontline personnel: 2,333,000

Tanks: 9,150

Total aircraft: 2,860

Submarines: 67

No. 2. Russia

Budget: $84.5 billion

Active frontline personnel: 766,055

Tanks: 15,398

Total aircraft: 3,429

Submarines: 55

No. 1 US

Budget: $601 billion

Active frontline personnel: 1,400,000

Tanks: 8,848

Total aircraft: 13,892

Submarines: 72