May 18, 2017

Summary

Kenya’s military is the most powerful in East Africa. According to the Global Firepower Index Kenya has the 75th strongest military globally.

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Kenya’s military is the most powerful in East Africa

Kenya’s military is the most powerful in East Africa

Kenya Defence Forces in Somalia

Kenya’s military has been ranked as the most powerful in East Africa, according to Global Firepower (GFP), an agency that assesses military strength of nations.

The Kenya Defense Forces (KDF) ranks ahead of all its East African counterparts and is eleventh on the list of most powerful military on the continent, and 75th out of the 176 countries featured across the globe in terms of manpower, equipment, resources logistics and geographical location.

The GFP uses over 40 factors to determine each nation’s power index and featured a total of 30 African countries.
According to the GFP rankings, Kenya’s military has an available man power of 19,300,000, a front line personnel of 24,150 and an active reserve personnel of 5,000, compared to Uganda’s 45,000 military personnel and Tanzania’s 30,000.

Kenya’s Military Air Power

On air power, KDF is reported to have 131 aircrafts, 17 fighters/interceptors, 17 fixed-wing attack aircraft, transport aircraft, 33 trainer aircraft and 61 helicopters.

All of this comes at a price. Kenya’s defense budget now stands at $595,000,000 per year.

Kenya Invades Somalia (Operation Linda Nchi)

Kenya Defence forces invaded Somalia in 2011 under Operation Linda Nchiand have been fighting Al-Shabaab under the Africa Union Mission in Somalia (Amisom).

Egypt is Africa’s most powerful military

Egypt tops the list of Africa’s most powerful military and ranks position 12 globally with a total manpower of 42,000,000 and a defense budget of $4,400,000,000.

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