Kenya Military Might; Focus on General Combat Equipment and Logistics

The Kenyan Military is among the best equipped militaries in the African continent and was 68 globally with a power index of 1.6835. To determine a country’s military strength a lot of factors have to be considered. Among them; manpower, lands systems, air power, naval power, oil resources, logistical, financial and geographical factors.

1. Man power

The actual manpower that drives any given military is a very vital element of measuring military might. Kenya has and active frontline military personnel of about 24,120 and 5,000 in the reserve. Kenya’s total population: 45,010,056, the available man power is 19,234,397, those that are fit for service are 12,468138 and the population reaching the military age annually is 839,031 this numbers create the perceive fighting strength of any state.

2. Land Systems

These are all the equipment that is used for land combat mainly the combat vehicles. Among them tanks (main battle tanks, tank destroyers and light tanks) and armored fighting vehicles. Kenya has 76 tanks, 591 armored fighting vehicles, 30 self-propelled guns and 25 towed artillery.

3. Air Power

These are all air support aircraft from all the arms of the service. Kenya has a total of 127 aircrafts, 17 interceptors, 17 fixed-wing attack aircrafts, 41 transport aircrafts, 64 helicopters and 27 trainer aircrafts.

4. Naval Power

Kenya’s total naval strength is 19 with 7 Coastal Defense Craft that aid in the Kenyan waters protection.

See also:  Kenya Defence Forces; Walk Through Its History

5. Logistical

War and battle are heavily reliant on the logistics; how personnel and machinery can be moved and access the battle field. Kenya has a road coverage of 160,886, 2 major ports, 197 serviceable airports, railway coverage of 2066 the labor force is 19,670,000. The labor force is basically industry strength at war.

6. Financial

War is highly dependent on the finances as much as it is on the military strength. Kenya has heavily invested in the defense budget as it stands at approximately $0.6 billion. Other finances that affect war are the External debt at $11.96 billion, gold and foreign exchange reserve at $5.541 billion and her Purchasing power parity is $79.9 billion.

While this is the present military strength position bold steps and larger budgetary allocations have been proposed to improve the current state especially in light of recent terror threats. Once implemented, it will see a major boost that will propel the East African state to the top 5 strongest militaries in Africa.