Detailing all of the major global military powers through statistics and rankings, each year, the website Global Firepower (GFP) ranks countries in what they call the “global firepower index,” an index that uses a 50-point algorithm to determine a nation’s military power.
Their system focuses on the diversity of weapons systems and provides bonuses and penalties for things like nuclear arms, diversity of force structures, and alliances (like NATO).
The formula is interesting because it makes a smaller but more technologically advanced country competitive with larger militaries from less advanced countries.
For 2017, there is a total of 133 countries included in the GFP database and the top five countries are the United States, Russia, China, India and France.
Nine of Southeast Asia countries are also included and here are their rankings in the world with their Power Index scores.
1) INDONESIA (Pwrlndx: 0.3347)
Indonesia is currently placed at 14th in the world, leading the region in this index.
2) VIETNAM (Pwrlndx: 0.3587)
Following Indonesia, Vietnam is currently ranked 16, a position ahead as compared to GFP 2016 ranking.
3) THAILAND (Pwrlndx: 0.3892)
Thailand is currently ranked 20, the same position in 2016 listing.
4) MYANMAR (Pwrlndx: 0.5991)
Myanmar is currently ranked 31, two places ahead with 249 aircraft, 592 combat tanks, 1,358 armoured vehicles, 884 towed artillery and 155 naval assets.
5) MALAYSIA (Pwrlndx: 0.6423)
Malaysia is currently ranked 33.
6) PHILIPPINES (Pwrlndx: 0.8367)
The Philippines is currently ranked 50.
7) SINGAPORE (Pwrlndx: 1.0171)
Singapore is currently ranked 65.
8) CAMBODIA (Pwrlndx: 1.8404)
Cambodia is currently ranked 89.
9) LAOS (Pwrlndx: 3.0608)
Laos is placed at six positions ahead globally in this year's ranking, currently ranked at 124.
Source: The Global Firepower | www.globalfirepower.com
