You have to arm a country

Yossarian

Forum Resistance Leader
So here is the situation, a new country is formed in 2014 in Eastern Europe about the size of Estonia, your new country's defense minister, Chief Of Staff and Director of the Army have a sit down with you, a General in the new country's Army.

Your job is simple, you have been given $10 Billion U.S. Dollars each for your new country's Armored Corps and Mechanized Infantry. Also you have been instructed that if you purchase any NATO weapon systems, you can ONLY buy NATO systems, the same for any other outside Military vehicles and weapons.

And you have also Inherited ZERO military vehicles and weapons from your old territory. Also the cost of training is already covered.

So what will be your choice? And how would you spend your $20 Billion?:tank:
 
First of all I'd have a huge castle built complete with moat, then buy a couple of business jets, helicopters, a few Rolls Royce motor cars, Range Rovers, a couple of Triumph Bonnevilles and Nortons, a protection squad of gorgeous young ladies and pay some pillock to organise the military while I played with al the toys.
 
First of all I'd have a huge castle built complete with moat, then buy a couple of business jets, helicopters, a few Rolls Royce motor cars, Range Rovers, a couple of Triumph Bonnevilles and Nortons, a protection squad of gorgeous young ladies and pay some pillock to organise the military while I played with al the toys.


I didn't say it had to be that realistic.
 
Well if I only have 20 Billion to play with then I am going to go with Russian gear, not because I like it or rate it better than western gear but it is cheap and effective so I am going to get more for my money which will allow for a better supply of replacement parts.

Chinese gear is possibly cheaper but given the poor quality of Chinese quality control the last thing I need is an MBT with the armour glued on.
 
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That's what I considered as well, I figured you could have a handful of fancy western vehicles with the latest APPs.

Or more Russian vehicles for the same amount of currency.
 
When you consider that Russian equipment is roughly a third to half the price of western equipment it makes some sense to buy it as it allows you to buy a ready stock of spares as well, on top of this Russia does seem more open to the idea of licensing manufacture which has the benefit of giving you control of your logistics.

If I was starting from scratch it is the way I would go, lets face it buy NATO/US gear and you are still getting stripped down equipment who's supply is subject to all sorts of political games (Iran's F-14's for example) so why not go with the cheaper option that also gives you an opportunity to develop your own industry.

One area that does concern me with Russian equipment though is optics and fire control systems and in terms of armour that may be enough to put me off.

There is of course the alternative of a third party purchase (Not NATO) though for example Israeli equipment although I have no idea how they compare cost wise.
 
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http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/world/spending.htm

nations by military spending. this will give you an idea of how good or numerous your equipement can be.

There are factors to consider here:

- how big is the country in question?
- what is its economy like?
- what is the population?
- is there conscription?
- does it have a water front or is it landlocked?
- what is the terrain like?
- how aggressive are my neigbors?
- how aggressive is my nation?
- what is the general attitude of the population towards the military?
 
Well your nation in question is mainly a forested/open plains type of Eastern European landscape.

The rough size in question is listed in the Original Post.

However, I was interested in how you could stack with a limited budget with various vehicle line ups from various nations. As to what member's here opinion on what a mechanized military force should consist of.

As of your potential adversaries, European NATO armies to the West, and Eastern European Armies to the East.

Your country also has no overseas assets to defend.
 
First I would try to find a powerful ally like Russia or NATO to joint them to be sure of my security. Then I would spend 30 to 40 percent of the budget to bring technology from my ally to produce weapons , specially light weapons or the weapons which have double-use technology ( military and civilian ), to have a good support for my army and economy in future.
with the rest of the budget I prefer defensive weapons to offensive weapons because those are several times cheaper. So I would buy a good air-defense system and a few good interceptor aircraft like MIG-31 to protect my sky and beside them I would buy some missiles like Alexander to have an offensive power too.
 
In the scenario offered I am not sure I see much point in an armoured corps at all, you essentially have a population of 1.4 million to defend, at best you are going to have a military of 60-100k and I think that would be pushing it.

I think I would dump almost the entire sum into mechanised infantry equipped with the best possible MPAT and MPAD systems I could get hold of and a bunch of BTR-3s or Pandur IIs (Austria hasn't joined NATO recently has it?).

Building an armoured corps capable of being effective with a population that size does not seem like good value for money given the size and population of the country I think smaller well equipped professional forces capable of holding up an attack until allies can assist is a far wiser option.

I am assuming helicopter and aircraft would be under the air force budget?
 
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In the scenario offered I am not sure I see much point in an armoured corps at all, you essentially have a population of 1.4 million to defend, at best you are going to have a military of 60-100k and I think that would be pushing it.

I think I would dump almost the entire sum into mechanised infantry equipped with the best possible MPAT and MPAD systems I could get hold of and a bunch of BTR-3s or Pandur IIs (Austria hasn't joined NATO recently has it?).

Building an armoured corps capable of being effective with a population that size does not seem like good value for money given the size and population of the country I think smaller well equipped professional forces capable of holding up an attack until allies can assist is a far wiser option.

I am assuming helicopter and aircraft would be under the air force budget?


Interesting thesis. And yes, Aircraft are not included in this scenario, those are under a separate budget.
 
Since this is such a small country I'd go for more of a guerrilla-type army instead of a heavy fighting force such as Russia or the US. I'd go for APCs instead of MBTs and rifles with longer range even if it sacrifices stopping power.
 
The question is, does this state have any enemies, potential or otherwise. Maybe they should concentrate on Military as "aid to the civil power" for disaster relief etc and latch into logistical support for a more powerful ally. On the other hand, they might just want to invest in a couple of crop-dusting aircraft and a few good strains of anthrax or other NBC agents.!
 
Quote doesn't seem to be working! "Longer range rifles even though it gives up stopping power" Actually the heavier bullets needed for longer range would increase stopping power, unless it causes through and through penetration.
 
First of all I'd have a huge castle built complete with moat, then buy a couple of business jets, helicopters, a few Rolls Royce motor cars, Range Rovers, a couple of Triumph Bonnevilles and Nortons, a protection squad of gorgeous young ladies and pay some pillock to organise the military while I played with al the toys.

I am in complete agreement with this.
Except instead of a squad of gorgeous young ladies, I'll go for a division. In fact I'll call it the CIX Division and it'll have it's own reality shows... especially for selection. It's going to be a global hit and bring in mad revenue for the whole country! Available MOS would be like 3100 Massage Woman.
And other things that will not be mentioned here.
But don't get me wrong, they will have combat training too so that's two birds with one stone... pun intended.
 
How did I forget to mention this?????
How is this country going to afford air support? The answer is.....*drum roll*...the McDonnel Douglas MD500!!!!! It's manoeuvrable, small and affordable! Very few helicopters of this size and price can pack this much of a punch.

It's also available in civilian versions which is a bonus! Last I checked this is the most widely used helicopter in the world (if you include the civilian versions as well)

It's also quite technically advanced. It has an MMS (mast mounted sight) so it can spot the enemy while taking cover behind some trees, pop up, shoot and take cover again!
 
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