Botswana is ranked 108 of 138 countries surveyed by Global Firepower – a United States based organisation which charts developments in militaries across the world.
The rankings are based on Manpower, air power, Army Strengths, Naval Power, Financial Resources, Logistical Resources, Natural Resources, Geography among others.
The US based organisation indicated that the highest ranked African country was Egypt (12th) followed by Algeria (23rd), South Africa (33rd), Nigeria (43rd) and Angola (48th).
Other nations with strong militaries than Botswana are Ghana(106), Cambodia(107), Cameroon(101), Mali (96) Burkina Faso (97), Zimbabwe (91), Zambia(88), Chad(87) Kenya(84), Tunisia(81), Libya(80), Belgium(70), Cuba(73), Ethiopia(60), Morocco(57) and Sudan (76).
Botswana’s
military strength is superior to among others, Namibia(128), Tanzania
(109), Honduras(110), Armenia(111), Moldova(112), Paraguay(113),
Mozambique(116), South Sudan(117), Lebanon(118), Gabon(130) ,
Liberia(137), Somalia(136), Sierra Leone (134).
According
to the latest report titled
‘2020 Military Strength Ranking’
Botswana
holds a Pwr Index rating of 2.0582 (0.0000
considered ‘perfect’).
According to the report, a perfect PwrIndx score 0.0000 which realistically unattainable in the scope of the Global Fire Power formula; the smaller the Pwrlndx value, the, more power a nation’s theoretical fighting capability is (by conventional means as nuclear capability is not taken into account). The rankings also show that Botswana still occupies the same spot it occupied last year.
The Global Power Force annual reports shows that Botswana has 10 fighter jets, 9000 military personnel, 55 tanks, 20 rocket projectors, 245 armoured vehicles and 30 towed artillery.
According to the report, Botswana’s military budget is $450 million (roughly P4.9 billion) with an external debt of $2,187,000 000 USD, and a purchasing power parity of P&4000, 000,000 USD.
The US continues to dominate the rankings as it occupied the top spot of the five powers in the world, followed by Russia, China, India and Japan. The ranking focuses on the diversity of weapons in a country’s arsenal rather than the total number of weapons available.
The Global firepower ranking relies on over 50 factors to determine a given nation’s power index (PwrIndx) score. The formula allows smaller, though more technologically-advanced, nations to compete with larger, lesser-developed ones.
