strength of a military is determined by weaponery , size of forces and fighting spirit.

strongest military in africa

1. egypt.

Largest in africa and middle east , relatively well equipped force . America supplies them with fairly modern weapons. like m1 a1 tanks and f 16 fighter jets. they would destroy nigeria easily.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Egyptian_Armed_Forces

2. Algeria.

they have the latest russian tanks and airplanes. far superior to anything that nigeria has.

they just bought 300 t-90 russian tanks, the most advanced tanks russia have to offer.

they also just bought su 30 fighter jets. very advanced 4th generation fighter jets from russia . they have a standing army of 125,000.

needless to say , they would walk over nigeria in a war.

3. south africa

not the larget army, but moderately well equipped and well trained. have a mature defence industry that manufacturers tanks and artillery.

relatively well armed . with a few 5th generation fighter jets and moderately modern home made battle tanks. great artillery guns.

4. Nigeria

large army but poorly equipped and moderately well trained. defence industry produces light arms. airforce is poorly equipped. large number of antiquated battle tanks .

LBT:
( Your General or any analyst who tell you SA can defeat Nigeria most be a fool because with America advanced weapons the were disgraced in the korean war by Chinese/Korean troops backed with russian weapons and Vietnam, likewise in Afgan and even Iraq were they have no decisive victory. Libya is not on the top 5 list in Africa; libya was defeated in liberia, he was also defeated by Niger Republic in the toyota war. Libya had more men and advanced weapons in their war in Niger Republic but they were defeated by a lightly armed military. The British weapons and military are better than that of America but in war america will defeat them. Please get your facts right. Russian made weapons are by far better than America or Nato weapons but the west use propaganda to deceive us that their weapons are better and they are strong, which are lies. If true, why do they bring so many countries in Nato? Nigerian military have more combat experience than SA military.

What you talking about. UN forces in Korea never struggled. And at that point the tech gap was not high between east and west.

Russian do have some good tech but they behind the west.

LBT: snydergp:

Let's just put this foolish statements of u to rest.

SAM's what? cause SAM's stands for (surface to air missile)
S-300 is an anti ballistic surface to air missile deffense system made in Russia since 1979-2011, yes its still one of the best systems still availible because it cn be operational within 5 minutes and it can track upto 100 targets at a time, it also requires minimal maintaince over its lifespan.
The S-300 however is only effective against high altitute intermediate ballistic missiles but is practically useless against low flying(altitude) subsonic missiles which most modern militaries use today.

U keep on talking nonse abt the SU-30 here is the list of the worlds top ten best modern and battle tested fighter aircraft, you can also go and research this.

1-F22 Raptor (usa)
2-Tyfoon(EU)
3-F18 Hornet (usa)
4-JAS-39 Saab Gripen (Sweden)
5-RAFALE (France)
6-SU-27 (Russia)
7-F15 Eagle (usa)
8-F16 (usa)
9-MIG-29 (Russia)
10-J-10 (China)

I see that you do not know much about military equipment because Russian T50 is more advanced than all Nato military aircraft and even over 95.% of American military jets; the only problem is they have very few but suhkoi(SU) and Mig planes are heavy war machines. America had a simulation with India airforce who fly russian made plane and the american were beaten hands down. Get your fact right. Sweden Gripen are good in its own level.

I like it when fools try and school people with unfounded and stupid comments

The T50 was first introduced in 2010 and that program is still not complete and will only be completed in 2015-2016. The Russian airforce don't even have that plane in their current fighter inventory where the hell do u come from and talk sh@t here as if we are that stupid.

Egypt has more naval ships then SA but there current ships are no match for SA's VALOUR CLASS Frigattes and our submarine fleet.

Nigeria don't even have any submarines.

South Africa don't have the means with its current man power to invade Nigeria or Algeria but SA can have a naval blockade in nigeria and cut off all oil exports if the two nations are in a war our current naval fleet is more than capable of achieving this.

So tell me where did u read abt the T50 do your research before you claim anything.

LBT: Russia now have advanced version known as S-400, mind you the S-300 can fire different types of anti aircraft missile and also serve as anti missile; it can shot down any thing low or very high flying object. S-300 or S-400 is better than any thing America, isreal or Nato can offer; that why they are doing all they can to prevent their sale to other countries as it will greatly reduce their air superiority. Get your fact right again.

Although the S300 is still a potent air deffense system u shouldn't talk nonsense its a well known fact that the S300 can track low altitude missiles but it is inaffective with regards to low altitude subsonic modern weapons

A few years back Isreal destroyed a Syrian nuclear site eventhough the Syrians also uses the S300. The isreali's used communiction and radar jammers to render the socalled S300 useless. So Let's just stop this bogues foolish fairytales please

Fact egypt, south africa and Ethiopia. Ethiopians are well experienced. http://www.globalfirepower.com/country-military-strength-detail.asp?country_id=Egypt

snydergp:

Although the S300 is still a potent air deffense system u shouldn't talk nonsense its a well known fact that the S300 can track low altitude missiles but it is inaffective with regards to low altitude subsonic modern weapons

A few years back Isreal destroyed a Syrian nuclear site eventhough the Syrians also uses the S300. The isreali's used communiction and radar jammers to render the socalled S300 useless. So Let's just stop this bogues foolish fairytales please

Not saying you a laire but a lot of that is has a result to the radar used. And yes most people don't give enough credit to EW/ECM. Take the frigat in the SAN with out EW and you can not see them.

seble66: Fact egypt, south africa and Ethiopia. Ethiopians are well experienced. http://www.globalfirepower.com/country-military-strength-detail.asp?country_id=Egypt

I don't like globalfirepower does not take every thing in to account.

andrewza:

Not saying you a laire but a lot of that is has a result to the radar used. And yes most people don't give enough credit to EW/ECM. Take the frigat in the SAN with out EW and you can not see them.

Dis waar ja, but the problem most systems is that maintenance are lacking especially during peace times. EW systems are essential today but with current advanced electronics even smaller militaries have worked there way around "some" of them. The key to everything today is budgets.

The problem SA faces is the current deffense budget and pressing needs of developement vs stratigic regional and national needs military wise.

African nations wants SA to play a more important role in regional affairs and continental roles but SA's opposition parties including some within the ruling party wants a smaller SANDF which can have dire consiquences for SA's future.

But what I know is the commision that was setup to look into SA's current deffense needs has said that SA's deffense budget needs to increase by 2,8% year on year just to meet its current needs and the goverment said that it would strongly look into this and make recommendations on in regard in 2013.

snydergp:

Dis waar ja, but the problem most systems is that maintenance are lacking especially during peace times. EW systems are essential today but with current advanced electronics even smaller militaries have worked there way around "some" of them. The key to everything today is budgets.

The problem SA faces is the current deffense budget and pressing needs of developement vs stratigic regional and national needs military wise.

African nations wants SA to play a more important role in regional affairs and continental roles but SA's opposition parties including some within the ruling party wants a smaller SANDF which can have dire consiquences for SA's future.

But what I know is the commision that was setup to look into SA's current deffense needs has said that SA's deffense budget needs to increase by 2,8% year on year just to meet its current needs and the goverment said that it would strongly look into this and make recommendations on in regard in 2013.

Yes the budget is a problem. 1.3% is fine for peace time but we have more asserts deployed in forghin counties now than we had during the border war I mean there where only 3000 in angola at any one time. The defense force is operating at a war time level with a peace time budget. And all tough it can do this it dose strain other areas. For exampil 2010 naval intake was around 500 2011 around 400 and this years 2012 was around 300. There no money for more people. Then there is the big problem. If we need to deploy a rapid force now we could only get under 5000 about 5 batlions. That not enough to say launch a strike on zim. I know we need to deploy over seas but not at a risk of home defense. And what I want to know is how the nigerians are handling things. They got a much larger force than us but there budget is less. Where they cutting corners.

andrewza:

Yes the budget is a problem. 1.3% is fine for peace time but we have more asserts deployed in forghin counties now than we had during the border war I mean there where only 3000 in angola at any one time. The defense force is operating at a war time level with a peace time budget. And all tough it can do this it dose strain other areas. For exampil 2010 naval intake was around 500 2011 around 400 and this years 2012 was around 300. There no money for more people. Then there is the big problem. If we need to deploy a rapid force now we could only get under 5000 about 5 batlions. That not enough to say launch a strike on zim. I know we need to deploy over seas but not at a risk of home defense. And what I want to know is how the nigerians are handling things. They got a much larger force than us but there budget is less. Where they cutting corners.

They have a much larger force yes but pay there staff much less. They don't really have research and weapons developement industries which also takes a lot of money out of the like SA's Denel, Armscor and Paramount. They also don't have the hardware like aircraft, submarines and amount of warships SA has to maintain with the current budget.

Another problem they don't have is the level of Unionization in the deffense force like SA has that causes a lot of problems in dissiplinary procedures and overal management functions of the SANDF. They also don't have problems with transformation eg: Afirmative Action policy that has also led to the loss of trained staff.

SA's biggest problem currently also is related to ANC incompetent cadre deployment, politics, nepotism and a opposition party named the Demcratic Allians who wants South Africa to focus on a smaller deffense force less foreign deployment of soldiers the closing of Denel and other goverment owned deffense companies. Hope this brings some perspective on the deffernces be the two countries, this my point view and from what I've experienced over the last 8 years of participation the in SANDF.

the DA is starting to get on my nerv. They don't know what they talking about most of the time when it comes to deffense issues yet they act all knowing.

STRONGEST TEN MILITARY POWERS/COUNTRIES IN AFRICA :

don't be surprised,this is the correct rankings from worldwide military analysts in europe and north america

1. EGYPT
(too powerful,too strong,too well trained,too well equipped,too experienced to be challenged by any other african country. the world fear egypt's power)

2. ALGERIA
(it will shock any country that tries to fight algeria, very well equipped modern army and airforce,yet people don't know. algeria is a silent big power)

3. NIGERIA AND SOUTH AFRICA SAME POSITION

(nigerian army/navy are stronger,but south african airforce is stronger,so a balance of power. the world respects nigerian artillery and infantry. the world respects south african airforce as they have been flying combat missions since world war II in 1940. south african army has very little combat experience)

4. ETHIOPIA, ANGOLA, AND SUDAN SAME POSITION

(ethiopia has a battle hardened army,combat experience nation against nation,its airforce flew warplanes against italy over 70 years ago! respect ethiopia. angola and sudan have latest jet-fighters and massive tanks/artillery firepower with many years of real combat experience in big civil wars)

5. MOROCCO, ERITREA, UGANDA SAME POSITION
(morocco has good jet-fighters,but its soldiers are not first-class on land and air combat. eritrea is a small nation with powerful airforce and army having many years of serious battlefield experience. uganda has a modernized airforce with good jetfighters and a moderately experienced army with good commanders)

HOWEVER IN REAL WAR, ANY OF THE WEAKER AFRICAN COUNTRIES LIKE CAMEROUN CAN SURPRISINGLY AND SUDDENLY BECOME MILITARILY POWERFUL OVERNIGHT IF THEY HAVE A DEFENCE PACT WITH A WORLD SUPER POWER LIKE FRANCE. SIERRA LEONE HAD A DEFENCE PACT WITH NIGERIA AND THE IGNORANT REBELS OVERTHREW PRSIDENT TEJAN KABBAH, NIGERIAN MILITARY RESPONDED IMMEDIATELY AND DEFEATED THE REBELS. THIS IS THE REASON WHY NIGERIA IS ALWAYS AFRAID OF WAR WITH CAMEROUN IN BAKASSI, AS FRANCE CAN SUPPORT CAMEROUN AND DEFEAT NIGERIA IN A WAR. SO, OBASANJO RUSHED TO UKRAINE TO SIGN A DEFENCE PACT BEFORE MOVING MORE TROOPS INTO BAKASSI PENINSULA DURING HIS FIRST TERM.

if you doubt the above military power rankings for african countries, spend some time to carefully study each countries military equipment and war history on wikipedia, for example, google algeria airforce wikipedia, algerian army wikipedia, army of sudan wkipedia, etc. thank you

STRONGEST TEN MILITARY POWERS/COUNTRIES IN AFRICA :

don't be surprised,this is the correct rankings from worldwide military analysts in europe and north america

1. EGYPT
(too powerful,too strong,too well trained,too well equipped,too experienced to be challenged by any other african country. the world fear egypt's power)

2. ALGERIA
(it will shock any country that tries to fight algeria, very well equipped modern army and airforce,yet people don't know. algeria is a silent big power)

3. NIGERIA AND SOUTH AFRICA SAME POSITION

(nigerian army/navy are stronger,but south african airforce is stronger,so a balance of power. the world respects nigerian artillery and infantry. the world respects south african airforce as they have been flying combat missions since world war II in 1940. south african army has very little combat experience)

4. ETHIOPIA, ANGOLA, AND SUDAN SAME POSITION

(ethiopia has a battle hardened army,combat experience nation against nation,its airforce flew warplanes against italy over 70 years ago! respect ethiopia. angola and sudan have latest jet-fighters and massive tanks/artillery firepower with many years of real combat experience in big civil wars)

5. MOROCCO, ERITREA, UGANDA SAME POSITION
(morocco has good jet-fighters,but its soldiers are not first-class on land and air combat. eritrea is a small nation with powerful airforce and army having many years of serious battlefield experience. uganda has a modernized airforce with good jetfighters and a moderately experienced army with good commanders)

HOWEVER IN REAL WAR, ANY OF THE WEAKER AFRICAN COUNTRIES LIKE CAMEROUN CAN SURPRISINGLY AND SUDDENLY BECOME MILITARILY POWERFUL OVERNIGHT IF THEY HAVE A DEFENCE PACT WITH A WORLD SUPER POWER LIKE FRANCE. SIERRA LEONE HAD A DEFENCE PACT WITH NIGERIA AND THE IGNORANT REBELS OVERTHREW PRSIDENT TEJAN KABBAH, NIGERIAN MILITARY RESPONDED IMMEDIATELY AND DEFEATED THE REBELS. THIS IS THE REASON WHY NIGERIA IS ALWAYS AFRAID OF WAR WITH CAMEROUN IN BAKASSI, AS FRANCE CAN SUPPORT CAMEROUN AND DEFEAT NIGERIA IN A WAR. SO, OBASANJO RUSHED TO UKRAINE TO SIGN A DEFENCE PACT BEFORE MOVING MORE TROOPS INTO BAKASSI PENINSULA DURING HIS FIRST TERM.

if you doubt the above military power rankings for african countries, spend some time to carefully study each countries military equipment and war history on wikipedia, for example, google algeria airforce wikipedia, algerian army wikipedia, army of sudan wkipedia, etc. thank you

STRONGEST TEN MILITARY POWERS/COUNTRIES IN AFRICA :

don't be surprised,this is the correct rankings from worldwide military analysts in europe and north america

1. EGYPT
(too powerful,too strong,too well trained,too well equipped,too experienced to be challenged by any other african country. the world fear egypt's power)

2. ALGERIA
(it will shock any country that tries to fight algeria, very well equipped modern army and airforce,yet people don't know. algeria is a silent big power)

3. NIGERIA AND SOUTH AFRICA SAME POSITION

(nigerian army/navy are stronger,but south african airforce is stronger,so a balance of power. the world respects nigerian artillery and infantry. the world respects south african airforce as they have been flying combat missions since world war II in 1940. south african army has very little combat experience)

4. ETHIOPIA, ANGOLA, AND SUDAN SAME POSITION

(ethiopia has a battle hardened army,combat experience nation against nation,its airforce flew warplanes against italy over 70 years ago! respect ethiopia. angola and sudan have latest jet-fighters and massive tanks/artillery firepower with many years of real combat experience in big civil wars)

5. MOROCCO, ERITREA, UGANDA SAME POSITION
(morocco has good jet-fighters,but its soldiers are not first-class on land and air combat. eritrea is a small nation with powerful airforce and army having many years of serious battlefield experience. uganda has a modernized airforce with good jetfighters and a moderately experienced army with good commanders)

HOWEVER IN REAL WAR, ANY OF THE WEAKER AFRICAN COUNTRIES LIKE CAMEROUN CAN SURPRISINGLY AND SUDDENLY BECOME MILITARILY POWERFUL OVERNIGHT IF THEY HAVE A DEFENCE PACT WITH A WORLD SUPER POWER LIKE FRANCE. SIERRA LEONE HAD A DEFENCE PACT WITH NIGERIA AND THE IGNORANT REBELS OVERTHREW PRSIDENT TEJAN KABBAH, NIGERIAN MILITARY RESPONDED IMMEDIATELY AND DEFEATED THE REBELS. THIS IS THE REASON WHY NIGERIA IS ALWAYS AFRAID OF WAR WITH CAMEROUN IN BAKASSI, AS FRANCE CAN SUPPORT CAMEROUN AND DEFEAT NIGERIA IN A WAR. SO, OBASANJO RUSHED TO UKRAINE TO SIGN A DEFENCE PACT BEFORE MOVING MORE TROOPS INTO BAKASSI PENINSULA DURING HIS FIRST TERM.

if you doubt the above military power rankings for african countries, spend some time to carefully study each countries military equipment and war history on wikipedia, for example, google algeria airforce wikipedia, algerian army wikipedia, army of sudan wkipedia, etc. thank you

STRONGEST TEN MILITARY POWERS/COUNTRIES IN AFRICA :

don't be surprised,this is the correct rankings from worldwide military analysts in europe and north america

1. EGYPT
(too powerful,too strong,too well trained,too well equipped,too experienced to be challenged by any other african country. the world fear egypt's power)

2. ALGERIA
(it will shock any country that tries to fight algeria, very well equipped modern army and airforce,yet people don't know. algeria is a silent big power)

3. NIGERIA AND SOUTH AFRICA SAME POSITION

(nigerian army/navy are stronger,but south african airforce is stronger,so a balance of power. the world respects nigerian artillery and infantry. the world respects south african airforce as they have been flying combat missions since world war II in 1940. south african army has very little combat experience)

4. ETHIOPIA, ANGOLA, AND SUDAN SAME POSITION

(ethiopia has a battle hardened army,combat experience nation against nation,its airforce flew warplanes against italy over 70 years ago! respect ethiopia. angola and sudan have latest jet-fighters and massive tanks/artillery firepower with many years of real combat experience in big civil wars)

5. MOROCCO, ERITREA, UGANDA SAME POSITION
(morocco has good jet-fighters,but its soldiers are not first-class on land and air combat. eritrea is a small nation with powerful airforce and army having many years of serious battlefield experience. uganda has a modernized airforce with good jetfighters and a moderately experienced army with good commanders)

HOWEVER IN REAL WAR, ANY OF THE WEAKER AFRICAN COUNTRIES LIKE CAMEROUN CAN SURPRISINGLY AND SUDDENLY BECOME MILITARILY POWERFUL OVERNIGHT IF THEY HAVE A DEFENCE PACT WITH A WORLD SUPER POWER LIKE FRANCE. SIERRA LEONE HAD A DEFENCE PACT WITH NIGERIA AND THE IGNORANT REBELS OVERTHREW PRSIDENT TEJAN KABBAH, NIGERIAN MILITARY RESPONDED IMMEDIATELY AND DEFEATED THE REBELS. THIS IS THE REASON WHY NIGERIA IS ALWAYS AFRAID OF WAR WITH CAMEROUN IN BAKASSI, AS FRANCE CAN SUPPORT CAMEROUN AND DEFEAT NIGERIA IN A WAR. SO, OBASANJO RUSHED TO UKRAINE TO SIGN A DEFENCE PACT BEFORE MOVING MORE TROOPS INTO BAKASSI PENINSULA DURING HIS FIRST TERM.

if you doubt the above military power rankings for african countries, spend some time to carefully study each countries military equipment and war history on wikipedia, for example, google algeria airforce wikipedia, algerian army wikipedia, army of sudan wkipedia, etc. thank you

Egypt has a lot of internal problems and would fall in to anarchy if it used it's full milltary might. All so all that forghin USA milltary Aid helps. With out it it will fall.

Algeria is not that good. It is becoming a force to fear but it not there yet. SA is selling a lot of gear to them.

The NN may be larger but it is a brown water navy with a lot of marines the SAN is a Blue water navy. The NN is good at what it does but no african navy could stand up to the SAN. Those stealth frigats and subs real swing thr balance our way. Nigeria has a larger army but the SA army has a lot more advance tech a lot of it world class or even the best in the world. Still the size of the Nigerian army is Player. I don't know how much traing they can achieve with there budget though. I mean it is smaller than the south africans but there numbers are larger. There are some areas where currently nigeria has a edge Air defense for example. But SA is working on this. Has for nigerian artlliary vs SA artlliary the G6 and G5 sytems are world beatters not even NATO has any thing that comes close. And though the SANDF has not fought a full on war we still have forces in peace keeping all over africa and there was Angola that taught us a lot(the SADF sollders where not chaist away). Air force is a no brainer.

I would drop sudan they have no experiance in fighting a army only rag tang milltias.


You should think of adding ZIM to that list. Air force may struggel in air supoirty but only a few other african air forces could do better and they good and air suport they have a large army and are being backed by china. They not part of the best but they still not a push over and if south africa was not here they would be a real threat to let's say botswana.

agaugust: STRONGEST TEN MILITARY POWERS/COUNTRIES IN AFRICA :

don't be surprised,this is the correct rankings from worldwide military analysts in europe and north america

1. EGYPT
(too powerful,too strong,too well trained,too well equipped,too experienced to be challenged by any other african country. the world fear egypt's power)

2. ALGERIA
(it will shock any country that tries to fight algeria, very well equipped modern army and airforce,yet people don't know. algeria is a silent big power)

3. NIGERIA AND SOUTH AFRICA SAME POSITION

(nigerian army/navy are stronger,but south african airforce is stronger,so a balance of power. the world respects nigerian artillery and infantry. the world respects south african airforce as they have been flying combat missions since world war II in 1940. south african army has very little combat experience)

4. ETHIOPIA, ANGOLA, AND SUDAN SAME POSITION

(ethiopia has a battle hardened army,combat experience nation against nation,its airforce flew warplanes against italy over 70 years ago! respect ethiopia. angola and sudan have latest jet-fighters and massive tanks/artillery firepower with many years of real combat experience in big civil wars)

5. MOROCCO, ERITREA, UGANDA SAME POSITION
(morocco has good jet-fighters,but its soldiers are not first-class on land and air combat. eritrea is a small nation with powerful airforce and army having many years of serious battlefield experience. uganda has a modernized airforce with good jetfighters and a moderately experienced army with good commanders)

HOWEVER IN REAL WAR, ANY OF THE WEAKER AFRICAN COUNTRIES LIKE CAMEROUN CAN SURPRISINGLY AND SUDDENLY BECOME MILITARILY POWERFUL OVERNIGHT IF THEY HAVE A DEFENCE PACT WITH A WORLD SUPER POWER LIKE FRANCE. SIERRA LEONE HAD A DEFENCE PACT WITH NIGERIA AND THE IGNORANT REBELS OVERTHREW PRSIDENT TEJAN KABBAH, NIGERIAN MILITARY RESPONDED IMMEDIATELY AND DEFEATED THE REBELS. THIS IS THE REASON WHY NIGERIA IS ALWAYS AFRAID OF WAR WITH CAMEROUN IN BAKASSI, AS FRANCE CAN SUPPORT CAMEROUN AND DEFEAT NIGERIA IN A WAR. SO, OBASANJO RUSHED TO UKRAINE TO SIGN A DEFENCE PACT BEFORE MOVING MORE TROOPS INTO BAKASSI PENINSULA DURING HIS FIRST TERM.

if you doubt the above military power rankings for african countries, spend some time to carefully study each countries military equipment and war history on wikipedia, for example, google algeria airforce wikipedia, algerian army wikipedia, army of sudan wkipedia, etc. thank you

All these stats are badly flawed. South Africa is indisputably ranked no:1 in Africa. The only African country which designs the most powerful military weapons including fighter helicopter. It compares only to western countries.

you want to joke with algeria ? south africa is NOT the main supplier of algeria's weapons, most of her weapons are russian made. algerian airforce is reputed to train combat pilots heavily, that is why it has 73 albatross trainer/attack jets to ensure intensive and regular training, it can afford it, algeria is one of the major oil and gas rich countries of the world. its has about 100 total of MIG 29 upgrades and SU-30 Flankers which are superior to american F15, and over 150 helicopters including 35 attack helicopter gunships, and its pilots are reputed to be very well trained which made libya's gadaffi always fear to war against algeria. which african country has such a powerful airforce? not even south africa, only egypt. the heavy tanks and armoured fighting vehicles of algerian army is numbered in several thousands and well maintained by algeria's oil wealth. south africa is not as strong as algeria, don't forget that infantry men's fighting spirit is very vital in combat, ask the french military to tell you the natural fighting spirit of an algerian soldier, they are the toughest in the arab world, read their army's history and warrior tradition, they hardly retreat in combat. south africans are not great fighters of modern wars, not zulu spear or inkatha stick/clubs/machetes war, i mean modern combat.

south africa is living on past glory of the white man's era, it is gone, and the military of south africa is not as strong now as in the apartheid days. the men dont have the kind of personal competence nigerian army has, the nigerian officers are trained in USA,Britain,India,Germany and Italy, they dont train in south africa. the nigerian junior soldiers are trained by the officers who return form USA and Europe with first class grade in the British and American military colleges. People under estimate nigeria's military power, it is a nation that keeps secrets about its hidden military capabilities since it began special combat capacity building because of the perceived threat from france over the bakassi land dispute with cameroun. nigerian navy is reputed for recent secret anti-submarine capability which it acquired instead of buying submarines. the so called stealth frigates of south african navy....it is not a battle tested technology yet, never baost of so called new weapons that have not faced good electronic counter-measures in real war, not in the the laboratory. nigerian navy is not a brown water navy for just internal marine creeks warfare. nigerian navy is the first wholly black nation navy to sail a single frigate ship across the equator to the continent of south america to participate in brazil's navy anniversary some few years ago, the true test of any navy is the ability to sail across the equator and return back home without any special support ship or air/land logistic support. nigeria in a state of war will shock many people, it has a strategic military plan to put 90% of its weapons and equipment into full combat operation within 7 days of threat. also try and ask military analysts who know about the world class skills of nigerian army artilery brigades...very deadly marksmen with renowned skill of long range accuracy bombardment, and not antiquated with old howitzers, they operate italian mordern palmaria mobile self propelled artillery.

in a global army generals' conference in china 1993, nigeria's chief of army staff general salihu ibrahim simulated a ground battle defense senario and asked world class army generals to simulate an attack to unlock that defensive tactics, all of them could not break into the defensive position he created, they asked him to reveal the attack solution but he refused to reveal it. after that incident the chinese military wrote to the nigerian presidency asking for joint military training programmes for combat knowledge sharing between nigeria and china. has any country invited south african military to display real life combat knowlege? who is ready to face the nigerian army head to head among the soldiers in south africa? respect true experience of many years, the white man respects experience, but a black man does not value experience and that is why he is backward and under-developed.

egypt has internal problems, every country has internal problems. britain had IRA attack like boko-haram in nigeria, spain still has basque people attacking from inside like boko-haram in nigeria. any fool that wants to attack egypt now can go ahead and try it, you will see egypt unite to defend themselves and destroy the common external enemy, then after winning the war they will come back and face their internal problems. if it is your family that has internal dispute and then thieves break into your house and you have guns, wont you fight the enemy first and come back to do family quarell later? you too think now?

sudan is a country people think is weak. their army has historic combat experience with the british army, and they defeated the british after some time of war. the country is now well eqipped with very latest russian weapons and in large numbers of equipment, they use them in battle for over 20 years of civil war, and the oil wealth of sudan has kept them well trained and well maintained. its airforce fies latest SU-30 Flankers.

south africa is manufacturing weapons, yes, but is it factory production that wins a war? argentina manufactures combat aircraft but can it defeat pakistan or north korea ? how many internally manufactured weapons does a producing country buy to equip its military? it matters, ask belgium. numbers matter. what is the quality and fighting spirit of the soldiers who operate the weapons produced in their own home country? it matters, ask libya. south africa has mordern weapons but its numbers in use are too low compared to egypt, algeria, and in some cases nigeria. why do you think america fears china and south korea fears north korea? heavy numbers can be difficult to handle in real war, ask pakistan about india.

south africa is living on past glory of the white man's apartheid era which is now over with the black man in control, the usual black man's second class ability has weakened south africa.

also note that nigeria researched, developed and built drone aircraft for unmanned air attacks, heavy patrol naval craft, armoured personnel carriers as well. i saw them all with my own eyes during launching ceremonies and combat testing. it produces its infantry light and heavy weapons and nigeria is secretly advancing its nuclear weapons development. any fool that wants to attack nigeria among african countries can go ahead and try.

you want to joke with algeria ? south africa is NOT the main supplier of algeria's weapons, most of her weapons are russian made. algerian airforce is reputed to train combat pilots heavily, that is why it has 73 albatross trainer/attack jets to ensure intensive and regular training, it can afford it, algeria is one of the major oil and gas rich countries of the world. its has about 100 total of MIG 29 upgrades and SU-30 Flankers which are superior to american F15, and over 150 helicopters including 35 attack helicopter gunships, and its pilots are reputed to be very well trained which made libya's gadaffi always fear to war against algeria. which african country has such a powerful airforce? not even south africa, only egypt. the heavy tanks and armoured fighting vehicles of algerian army is numbered in several thousands and well maintained by algeria's oil wealth. south africa is not as strong as algeria, don't forget that infantry men's fighting spirit is very vital in combat, ask the french military to tell you the natural fighting spirit of an algerian soldier, they are the toughest in the arab world, read their army's history and warrior tradition, they hardly retreat in combat. south africans are not great fighters of modern wars, not zulu spear or inkatha stick/clubs/machetes war, i mean modern combat.

south africa is living on past glory of the white man's era, it is gone, and the military of south africa is not as strong now as in the apartheid days. the men dont have the kind of personal competence nigerian army has, the nigerian officers are trained in USA,Britain,India,Germany and Italy, they dont train in south africa. the nigerian junior soldiers are trained by the officers who return form USA and Europe with first class grade in the British and American military colleges. People under estimate nigeria's military power, it is a nation that keeps secrets about its hidden military capabilities since it began special combat capacity building because of the perceived threat from france over the bakassi land dispute with cameroun. nigerian navy is reputed for recent secret anti-submarine capability which it acquired instead of buying submarines. the so called stealth frigates of south african navy....it is not a battle tested technology yet, never baost of so called new weapons that have not faced good electronic counter-measures in real war, not in the the laboratory. nigerian navy is not a brown water navy for just internal marine creeks warfare. nigerian navy is the first wholly black nation navy to sail a single frigate ship across the equator to the continent of south america to participate in brazil's navy anniversary some few years ago, the true test of any navy is the ability to sail across the equator and return back home without any special support ship or air/land logistic support. nigeria in a state of war will shock many people, it has a strategic military plan to put 90% of its weapons and equipment into full combat operation within 7 days of threat. also try and ask military analysts who know about the world class skills of nigerian army artilery brigades...very deadly marksmen with renowned skill of long range accuracy bombardment, and not antiquated with old howitzers, they operate italian mordern palmaria mobile self propelled artillery.

in a global army generals' conference in china 1993, nigeria's chief of army staff general salihu ibrahim simulated a ground battle defense senario and asked world class army generals to simulate an attack to unlock that defensive tactics, all of them could not break into the defensive position he created, they asked him to reveal the attack solution but he refused to reveal it. after that incident the chinese military wrote to the nigerian presidency asking for joint military training programmes for combat knowledge sharing between nigeria and china. has any country invited south african military to display real life combat knowlege? who is ready to face the nigerian army head to head among the soldiers in south africa? respect true experience of many years, the white man respects experience, but a black man does not value experience and that is why he is backward and under-developed.

egypt has internal problems, every country has internal problems. britain had IRA attack like boko-haram in nigeria, spain still has basque people attacking from inside like boko-haram in nigeria. any fool that wants to attack egypt now can go ahead and try it, you will see egypt unite to defend themselves and destroy the common external enemy, then after winning the war they will come back and face their internal problems. if it is your family that has internal dispute and then thieves break into your house and you have guns, wont you fight the enemy first and come back to do family quarell later? you too think now?

sudan is a country people think is weak. their army has historic combat experience with the british army, and they defeated the british after some time of war. the country is now well eqipped with very latest russian weapons and in large numbers of equipment, they use them in battle for over 20 years of civil war, and the oil wealth of sudan has kept them well trained and well maintained. its airforce fies latest SU-30 Flankers.

south africa is manufacturing weapons, yes, but is it factory production that wins a war? argentina manufactures combat aircraft but can it defeat pakistan or north korea ? how many internally manufactured weapons does a producing country buy to equip its military? it matters, ask belgium. numbers matter. what is the quality and fighting spirit of the soldiers who operate the weapons produced in their own home country? it matters, ask libya. south africa has mordern weapons but its numbers in use are too low compared to egypt, algeria, and in some cases nigeria. why do you think america fears china and south korea fears north korea? heavy numbers can be difficult to handle in real war, ask pakistan about india.

south africa is living on past glory of the white man's apartheid era which is now over with the black man in control, the usual black man's second class ability has weakened south africa.

also note that nigeria researched, developed and built drone aircraft for unmanned air attacks, heavy patrol naval craft, armoured personnel carriers as well. i saw them all with my own eyes during launching ceremonies and combat testing. it produces its infantry light and heavy weapons and nigeria is secretly advancing its nuclear weapons development. any fool that wants to attack nigeria among african countries can go ahead and try.

You where initially making good points, but then, it turned into a rant, gibberish( excuse my language).
your first paragraph was good, but not without mistakes. I side with you as regards the algerian air force been amongst the best in africa, if not the best only behind egypt. The sukhoi 27 flanker is considered to be the best fighter aircraft of the 20th century, the sukhoi -30 which the algerians fly is a descendant of the sukhoi-27, but this time with far better range than the sukhoi-30.

The sukhoi-30, which algeria has 28 of, was built as a direct competition to the united states F-18 hornet and not the F-15 as you claim above.

The south africans have a massive defence industry, DENEL comes to mind, when you say south african defence manufacturing, of which algeria, nigeria are major buyers of south african MRAPs . Look at the campaign in somalia, the ugandans and kenyans almost only deploy south african MRAPs. Just take a look at UN's log on arms sales and you'll discover truly south african is amongst algerian main arms suppliers. of course with the russians been the largest.

The nigerian military strength is not the navy or airforce, but the army. South africa posses a very capable navy, better than nigeria's no doubt about that. Please don't make this lively discussion about race. South africa belongs to all south africans white, black, colored or indian, and with democracy they are gradually rebuilding their military.

Military on the continent
Egypt takes = 1
South africa= 2
Algeria. = 3
Nigeria. =4

Whether you like it or not South African National Defence Force remains the best in the continent. Egypt is no more the strongest military in the continent because of the political unrest in that country. Those stats are outdated and thus, need to be updated. South Africa, the only state in Africa to have successfully developed atomic and nuclear weapons equally powerful to destroy the planet earth. The most powerful apartheid SADF and its skillful personnel are still present in the current SANDF the only aspect that changed was an integration of the former military wings of liberation movements such as, MK(ANC), APLA(PAC), AZANLA (AZAPO), BDF(Bophuthatswana), TDF(Transkei), etc into SANDF. The very same Recce team which troubled and kept the Angolan and Cuban soldiers hiding in the boarder war and which is ranked among the best special forces in the world had ever since spread their wings to an advanced level. They have grown in leaps and bounds in terms of military technological developments and they remain the best or so to say, maintain no:1 spot on the continent. Just google.

agaugust: you want to joke with algeria ? south africa is NOT the main supplier of algeria's weapons, most of her weapons are russian made. algerian airforce is reputed to train combat pilots heavily, that is why it has 73 albatross trainer/attack jets to ensure intensive and regular training, it can afford it, algeria is one of the major oil and gas rich countries of the world. its has about 100 total of MIG 29 upgrades and SU-30 Flankers which are superior to american F15, and over 150 helicopters including 35 attack helicopter gunships, and its pilots are reputed to be very well trained which made libya's gadaffi always fear to war against algeria. which african country has such a powerful airforce? not even south africa, only egypt. the heavy tanks and armoured fighting vehicles of algerian army is numbered in several thousands and well maintained by algeria's oil wealth. south africa is not as strong as algeria, don't forget that infantry men's fighting spirit is very vital in combat, ask the french military to tell you the natural fighting spirit of an algerian soldier, they are the toughest in the arab world, read their army's history and warrior tradition, they hardly retreat in combat. south africans are not great fighters of modern wars, not zulu spear or inkatha stick/clubs/machetes war, i mean modern combat.

south africa is living on past glory of the white man's era, it is gone, and the military of south africa is not as strong now as in the apartheid days. the men dont have the kind of personal competence nigerian army has, the nigerian officers are trained in USA,Britain,India,Germany and Italy, they dont train in south africa. the nigerian junior soldiers are trained by the officers who return form USA and Europe with first class grade in the British and American military colleges. People under estimate nigeria's military power, it is a nation that keeps secrets about its hidden military capabilities since it began special combat capacity building because of the perceived threat from france over the bakassi land dispute with cameroun. nigerian navy is reputed for recent secret anti-submarine capability which it acquired instead of buying submarines. the so called stealth frigates of south african navy....it is not a battle tested technology yet, never baost of so called new weapons that have not faced good electronic counter-measures in real war, not in the the laboratory. nigerian navy is not a brown water navy for just internal marine creeks warfare. nigerian navy is the first wholly black nation navy to sail a single frigate ship across the equator to the continent of south america to participate in brazil's navy anniversary some few years ago, the true test of any navy is the ability to sail across the equator and return back home without any special support ship or air/land logistic support. nigeria in a state of war will shock many people, it has a strategic military plan to put 90% of its weapons and equipment into full combat operation within 7 days of threat. also try and ask military analysts who know about the world class skills of nigerian army artilery brigades...very deadly marksmen with renowned skill of long range accuracy bombardment, and not antiquated with old howitzers, they operate italian mordern palmaria mobile self propelled artillery.

in a global army generals' conference in china 1993, nigeria's chief of army staff general salihu ibrahim simulated a ground battle defense senario and asked world class army generals to simulate an attack to unlock that defensive tactics, all of them could not break into the defensive position he created, they asked him to reveal the attack solution but he refused to reveal it. after that incident the chinese military wrote to the nigerian presidency asking for joint military training programmes for combat knowledge sharing between nigeria and china. has any country invited south african military to display real life combat knowlege? who is ready to face the nigerian army head to head among the soldiers in south africa? respect true experience of many years, the white man respects experience, but a black man does not value experience and that is why he is backward and under-developed.

egypt has internal problems, every country has internal problems. britain had IRA attack like boko-haram in nigeria, spain still has basque people attacking from inside like boko-haram in nigeria. any fool that wants to attack egypt now can go ahead and try it, you will see egypt unite to defend themselves and destroy the common external enemy, then after winning the war they will come back and face their internal problems. if it is your family that has internal dispute and then thieves break into your house and you have guns, wont you fight the enemy first and come back to do family quarell later? you too think now?

sudan is a country people think is weak. their army has historic combat experience with the british army, and they defeated the british after some time of war. the country is now well eqipped with very latest russian weapons and in large numbers of equipment, they use them in battle for over 20 years of civil war, and the oil wealth of sudan has kept them well trained and well maintained. its airforce fies latest SU-30 Flankers.

south africa is manufacturing weapons, yes, but is it factory production that wins a war? argentina manufactures combat aircraft but can it defeat pakistan or north korea ? how many internally manufactured weapons does a producing country buy to equip its military? it matters, ask belgium. numbers matter. what is the quality and fighting spirit of the soldiers who operate the weapons produced in their own home country? it matters, ask libya. south africa has mordern weapons but its numbers in use are too low compared to egypt, algeria, and in some cases nigeria. why do you think america fears china and south korea fears north korea? heavy numbers can be difficult to handle in real war, ask pakistan about india.

south africa is living on past glory of the white man's apartheid era which is now over with the black man in control, the usual black man's second class ability has weakened south africa.

also note that nigeria researched, developed and built drone aircraft for unmanned air attacks, heavy patrol naval craft, armoured personnel carriers as well. i saw them all with my own eyes during launching ceremonies and combat testing. it produces its infantry light and heavy weapons and nigeria is secretly advancing its nuclear weapons development. any fool that wants to attack nigeria among african countries can go ahead and try.

Never said the bulk of the wepaons where south african. Only that we sell to them. Those hinds they have are upfraded versions the upgrade was done by south africa. There new frigats will have south african tech and wepaons extra extra.

I never said the slgerian air foce was small or weak. But air power dose not win wars. During the border war the cubans had more and better aircraft. Never helped them.

So what SANDF dose not have fighting spirt. Ask the brits, angolans, germains, italians, cubans extra about our fighting spirt.

What so we don't send officers over seas. That is standard pratics. But how about this. The Amrican army SOCOM came to learn from us. Not train us but be trainded by us in bush craft.

They not that secruit. Just no one bother to make it front line news or put it on the internet. The internet is not the best source for milltary info. A milltary libary is a better option.

What do you mean so callded stealth. It is stealth and ECM/EW of SAN is light years ahead of any one in africa. And our navy takes part in a number of war games against NATO and fellow devopling navys to test our sytems.

One frigat. SA sails to south amrica and europe regulay. It not a chalge for us but routien.

And nigeria is claserfied has a brown water navy. The abliety to sail in deep sea is not what makes you a blue water navy. It is the abielty to fight there that makes you a blue water navy. And one old frigat and a second hand US coast guard cutter is not a blue water force. And has I said before it not a insult. Nigeria has difrent needs from it's navy than SA.

The G6 and G5 are not old. They the most modern howzets in servis in the world since the yanks canceld the palldin.

NATO has. They asked a few times.

i will not engage in war of words over a topic of which 99% of people who write on nairaland are not professionals. i work with a military/defence consulting firm in the USA, and i talk to many military officers from the USA and EU, my job also involves many weapon manufacturing companies, and top ranking military analysts who know the secrets of all these countries we are arguing about. you wont have the confidential/secret information that i have unless you work in the military industry or profession. you feel like making south africa number one in your rankings because you are a south african man, no problem sir, go ahead. just know that your patriotic wish will not win a war for your country, the better fighting force will win.

for others, who are not biased and who care to know, the americans and british respect nigerian military officers more than any other african force, why ? they compete in military schools in their own country and the nigerians beat them. i know them and i talk with them. the western powers talk about the secret nature of nigeria's military strength, even nigerian's are not aware. i wont say all that i know on this forum because a lot of people just want to talk and they have no military training and they dont talk with military officers and consultants in the most powerful countries of the west.

so, you either like my ranking or hate it....EGYPT IS AFRICAN NO.1, ALGERIA NO.2, NIGERIA AND SOUTH AFRICA HAVE A BALANCE OF POWER DUE TO WEAK-POINTS VS STRONG-POINTS AND BOTH SHARE NO.3 POSITION. if anyone has facts and figures that we can all confirm from reliable sources, please challenge me, but not with stories and claims about a country which produces 1,000 weapons and buys 50 for its own military then its citizens think all the 1,000 belongs to their military power forgetting that weapon manufacturers in south africa are mostly private owned commercial profit making companies who export most of their hardware.

99% of people who are writing these rankings did not go to military institutions to study war history from world war I to the current war in syria. it takes a good and balanced knowledge of how to combine land,air and sea power to win a war, how the quality and practical experience officer's in command can determine the result of a war, how terrain is vital, order of battle, national war doctrine, and ability to rapidly increase military strength in time of challenge to a new level beyond what is openly known to the rest of the world. war history has shown how special factors turn the tide in many wars and the country that thought it was stronger actually lost the war or faced a stalemate due to a balance of power they ignorantly did not research into before going to war.

i will like to end my contributions to this topic by saying that the british and american officers/weapons system analysts i spoke to and work with, have repeatedly emphasized that nigeria has a hidden ability to stalemate a war with any medium power in the world like brazil, portugal, south africa, mexico, syria, etc. they say it is a country you attack and end up in a long war unless you are a big power like the USA, south korea, ukraine, israel, UK, china, india, etc. goodbye everyone, i will no longer contribute unless i read a technically sound posting that represents the view of many experts conclusion, not somebody's personal opinions from their bedrooms. please if i sound rude or proud/arrogant, show me mercy and forgive me, thanks.

agaugust: i will not engage in war of words over a topic of which 99% of people who write on nairaland are not professionals. i work with a military/defence consulting firm in the USA, and i talk to many military officers from the USA and EU, my job also involves many weapon manufacturing companies, and top ranking military analysts who know the secrets of all these countries we are arguing about. you wont have the confidential/secret information that i have unless you work in the military industry or profession. you feel like making south africa number one in your rankings because you are a south african man, no problem sir, go ahead. just know that your patriotic wish will not win a war for your country, the better fighting force will win.

for others, who are not biased and who care to know, the americans and british respect nigerian military officers more than any other african force, why ? they compete in military schools in their own country and the nigerians beat them. i know them and i talk with them. the western powers talk about the secret nature of nigeria's military strength, even nigerian's are not aware. i wont say all that i know on this forum because a lot of people just want to talk and they have no military training and they dont talk with military officers and consultants in the most powerful countries of the west.

so, you either like my ranking or hate it....EGYPT IS AFRICAN NO.1, ALGERIA NO.2, NIGERIA AND SOUTH AFRICA HAVE A BALANCE OF POWER DUE TO WEAK-POINTS VS STRONG-POINTS AND BOTH SHARE NO.3 POSITION. if anyone has facts and figures that we can all confirm from reliable sources, please challenge me, but not with stories and claims about a country which produces 1,000 weapons and buys 50 for its own military then its citizens think all the 1,000 belongs to their military power forgetting that weapon manufacturers in south africa are mostly private owned commercial profit making companies who export most of their hardware.

99% of people who are writing these rankings did not go to military institutions to study war history from world war I to the current war in syria. it takes a good and balanced knowledge of how to combine land,air and sea power to win a war, how the quality and practical experience officer's in command can determine the result of a war, how terrain is vital, order of battle, national war doctrine, and ability to rapidly increase military strength in time of challenge to a new level beyond what is openly known to the rest of the world. war history has shown how special factors turn the tide in many wars and the country that thought it was stronger actually lost the war or faced a stalemate due to a balance of power they ignorantly did not research into before going to war.

i will like to end my contributions to this topic by saying that the british and american officers/weapons system analysts i spoke to and work with, have repeatedly emphasized that nigeria has a hidden ability to stalemate a war with any medium power in the world like brazil, portugal, south africa, mexico, syria, etc. they say it is a country you attack and end up in a long war unless you are a big power like the USA, south korea, ukraine, israel, UK, china, india, etc. goodbye everyone, i will no longer contribute unless i read a technically sound posting that represents the view of many experts conclusion, not somebody's personal opinions from their bedrooms. please if i sound rude or proud/arrogant, show me mercy and forgive me, thanks.

Listen here my socalled military expert, I don't know where u got the impression than some of us here don't have a clue about military and deffense related topics. I've been trying to just read some of ur bullsh*t here u claim to be facts and just laugh it of but u seem to have a patronizing tone here and trying to belittle people here with all ur bullsh*t.

I would love to engage on each and every aspect you've wrongefully raised here but I'm too bussy at the moment and will engage u fully on a later stage, but I would just want to clerify a few things here.

Firstly I'm a SANDF member for over 8 years now and that's all I will say about my qualifications for now.

Secondly I don't know how u came up with the notion that south african deffense manufacturers are private owned but this is utter bullsh*t without any bases to proof the nonsense here.

DENEL- is africa's bigger deffense company and is holy owned by the SA goverment. Denel from time to time work with foreign deffense companies mainly BAE and recently Brazillian deffense forces. The look and fire optronics the US uses in 90% of fighter jets including some amunitions are south african made and for ur infomation Denel avionics pioneered the look and fire helmits used in fighter aircraft.

1-Mokopa( air to ground) is one of the world best anti tank or ground anti armour missiles ever created. The acuracy of the missile is better than its competors including the US AGM-114 Helfire used on its APACHI gunships.

2- G6(52/Rhino) is the worlds best wheeled medium to long rang artilary system using the 155MM. There's no artilary system currently in use in any military in the WORLD that can match the G6.

There's a lot more then this DENEL produce and I don't have the time to list other world class weapon systems.

In your other post u claim to have knowledge of Nigeria currently working on a nuclear weapon yet u now claim to be working in the US deffense industry please my guy stop lying

@AGAUGUST can u show me the hardware of Nigeria, Algeria, Egypt not 1980's outdated Abrahams tanks MiGs and artilary systems.

Egygt and Algeria has more tanks, troops and fighter aircraft then south africa but most of it is old outdated systems.

This is an intellectual discussion about comparible military strenght on the continent. Every nation has military secrets but in reality of the modern world of warfare is that what u can't prove on the ground is percieved as lies.

U haven't researched anything here and know nothing if u claim to have the facts please post the hardware currently in service.

Another thing about SANDF we don't send our trainees to US and EU for training because they are not experts on Southern African terrain or regional dynamics. The only contact we have with western militaries is in anual wargames and naval operations.

The Valour Class Frigatte/corvette is the most modern anti-ship anti and anti ballistic naval fleet on the continent and in the top ten naval warships in the world u can go research this. A country can boast ten warships but if its old 1980's and second hand warcraft then in modern terms its absolete.

Algeria's SAMS systems are considered africas most widely covered air deffense system and they use the S300 which is a 2nd generation Russian made SAM's but even this are becoming absolete against more modern 4th generation fighter stealth aircraft and electronic warfare kits onboard modern fighters. Southern Africa is less volitile then North african-middle eastern region hense South africa needs less air deffense capabilties and has deployed less SAM's systems alongside its inland borders. If Souyh Africa deployes more SAM's this can be seen as hostile to its neighbours and this is a notion SANDF has tried in the last 18 years to change.

Egypt is technically speaking still in a state of war with its Isreali neighbour and the 1977 truce with Isreal is the reason for Egypts large military force. But even with this there military can't function without external military AID from US. The Egyptian armed forces are the largest on the african continent hence there status as one of africa's top militaries but they lack in equipement because most of there hardware are old soviet submarines and outdated US built naval warships. The Egyptian airforce boast more fighter jets then South Africa but even this is old and some and upgraded F16's aren't as formidable as the JAS-SAAB GRIPPEN's rated as one of the top 5 modern fighters in the world and that's a fact please go and research this and stop the lies.

Egypts infantry are also considered to be the largest on the continent but not the most modern. They have more tanks Abrahams tanks in service outside the US and manufactures some under license, but the world has moved away from large infantry ground forces because of risk of modern air fire power and are going for more mobile 6-8 wheeled armoured vechiles than heavy tanks that easy targets for modern helicopter gunships. So even this has rendered the Egyptian infantry forces as oldschool thirdworld standard force.

Nigerian military on the other hand are fairly trained force but lacks a credible airforce and cannot boast of ten modern fighter jets in its airforce fact. Most of Nigeria's airforces consists of a few MIG 29's and lacks a airlift capabilities and recon. aircaft fact. The Nigerian navy is its weakest point currently and don't have any sea ready warship capable of engaging any modern navy period the only thing they have is a few patrol boats and this is also a fact. The Nigerian infantry forces are its strongest points and boast a "fairly trained" force but with a lack of equipement. Manpower without adiquote equipement is useless when facing a fully trained and equiped conventional military with less numbers and this is another fact in modern warfare. The only real war situations the Nigerian army has faced in the last 60 years was rebbels and ragtag armed forces from the continent where they were send to stop rebbelions and insurgent armed forces. This said the Nigerians are still very good at what they do and would give any invading force a hardtime. It takes 25-30 years for a nation to build a credible naval and airforce and Nigeria are nowhere near in doing so and I don't know where u got ur facts from.

South Africa has a smaller but the most modern armed forces on the continent and arguably the best trained special forces unit on the continent and is still considered to be one of the top 10 special forces units in the world. The deffense industry and industrial base in SA is by far the largest on the continent and in a war situation can be quickly turned into weapons manufucturing plants faster then any african nation fact.

The Naval fleet of SAN is the most modern on the continent and only nation in africa that enjoys blue water status. The SANDF is the only african nation with a ballistic missile capability eventhough it has scaled down on this capability due to its signing of the Ballistic Proliferation treaty in 1993 and this is also a fact.

Denel africa's biggest arms manufacturer and exporter and it exports small to heavy weapons systems to every continent. Even the Malaysian Navy's MEKO 100 class frigattes uses South African made weapons suits and this is also a Fact go and research this.

This said South Africa still faces a lot of problems like any other developing nation due to bugdetary constraints and limited resources.

@AGUAGUST show us hardware

For the intrested party. I am 3 years SANDF SA navy. (06011266 MC)

Just like to add some info about our subs. The USN rates our submarine servis in the top 5 of convtional submairn servises.

These chaps are so stubborn to understand. They find it hard to come to terms with the fact that there is no country in Africa that can compete with South Africa. Go and read the book "Capitalist Nigger" by Chika Onyeani, a Nigerian based in USA, who publicly admitted that South Africa is the only country in Africa which manufactures military weapons that compete to the western countries. For your info DENEL, the largest manufacturer of arms in Africa and ARMSCOR are not privately owned, it is listed as a public enterprise under the ministry of public enterprise. DENEL only sold their Potchefstroom based plant which mainly manufactured bombs to the Germans which changed its name to NESCHEM and now recently renamed RDM.

All these talk of who strong pass na tory. Na when you hear gboaa! you go know who is who.
No be so dem talk say iraq this, iraq that. Then under 2 weeks, they were annihilated.

advocate666: All these talk of who strong pass na tory. Na when you hear gboaa! you go know who is who.
No be so dem talk say iraq this, iraq that. Then under 2 weeks, they were annihilated.

What Iraq this and that

Don't compare a dictatorship who's people wanted him out of office.

Saddam had a big mouth mind even if Iraq fell in two weeks the US still struggled with an insurgent force for years in that country untill a negotiated peace deal brough some stability.

Don't come and talk about weak states where even the US needed its allies to provide support.

Iraq was an state which was inharently weak with a stup*d leader who used propaganda to insight fear in its opponents.

Now please go back to school and shutup while grown folks are talking

advocate666: All these talk of who strong pass na tory. Na when you hear gboaa! you go know who is who.
No be so dem talk say iraq this, iraq that. Then under 2 weeks, they were annihilated.

No one saying any thing about fighting amrica.

snydergp:

What Iraq this and that

Don't compare a dictatorship who's people wanted him out of office.

Saddam had a big mouth mind even if Iraq fell in two weeks the US still struggled with an insurgent force for years in that country untill a negotiated peace deal brough some stability.

Don't come and talk about weak states where even the US needed its allies to provide support.

Iraq was an state which was inharently weak with a stup*d leader who used propaganda to insight fear in its opponents.

Now please go back to school and shutup while grown folks are talking

I was talking of the first gulf war which happened probably before you were born.

sorry gentlemen, i think we have some rude and under-aged people writing comments here, or just maybe old men with no good manners, insulting words are used by the south african men on this site and for this topic, i thank God i have decided not to contribute again since some people are not operating at the same privileged level that i am with information directly form USA and EU military circles. true professionals dont waste their knowledge where it is not appreciated.

i cannot downgrade myself to the level of a south african 'army sergent' if at all he is truly a military man. i dont believe him because i did not see him display a flash of military doctrine and discipline in the way he talks to people on this forum, a true military officer well trained as he claims they are in south africa, will not use insults on people over this topic. this south african writers on nairaland are either fake soldiers or junior and poorly educated recruits or NCO, and their level of competence to write of a complex military topic like this, is very doubtful. this is a topic for generals or top class military analysts to rank a continent's military powers.

war history since 1939 to 2012, has taught every army general a lesson, who is the best military power ? who is the top of the rankings among countries ? the answer is simple and certain only after the bloody war ends, the superior country is the one that wins at the final end of the war, not before the war ! wisdom for you all. thanks.