Rabat - The Moroccan Army is the fifth strongest army in the Arab world, according to the Global Firepower Index, a ranking of 126 countries that compare the world’s militaries based on more than 50 factors, including budget, available manpower, military arsenal and access to natural resources.
The 2015 Global Firepower Index ranked the Moroccan Army fifth in the Arab world preceded by Egypt in first place, Algeria, Saudi Arabia and Syria. Globally, the kingdom has progressed from the 65 position in last year’s ranking to 49 with a score of 1.243.
Morocco, which is preceded by Argentina and Finland, comes ahead of the United Arab Emirates, Peru and Columbia.
The report, which was released on Wednesday, highlights the capacities of the Moroccan Army, such as the land systems, air power and naval power. It also provides detailed information about the geography of Morocco, its financial situation, its demographics and natural resources.
According to the report, Morocco uses a mix of old and new equipment, while having several hundred thousand active and reserve personnel on call.
Morocco has 1,215 tanks, 2,348 Armored Fighting Vehicles (AFVs), 448 self-propelled Guns (SPGs), 192 Towed-Artillery and 72 Multiple-Launch Rocket Systems (MLRSs). The Kingdom also has 195,800 active frontline personnel and 150,000 active reserve personnel, the report added.
The report shows that the US clearly leads the world in military spending with more than $500 billion a year. It is followed by Russia, China, India, the United Kingdom, France, South Korea, Germany, Japan and Turkey.
The GFP list makes use of over 50 factors to determine each nation’s Power Index score (Pwrlndx). Scores are judged on a perfect value of 0, 0000.
The GFP ranking did not take into account the countries’ nuclear capabilities. It is based strictly on each nation’s potential conventional war-making capabilities across land, sea and air. The report said that some statistics have been estimated where official numbers are not publicly available.
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