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By Akhilesh Pillalamarri
A new report takes a look at the U.S. military’s strength across the world, including the Asia-Pacific.
Politicians are fond of telling Americans that they have the most powerful military in the history of mankind. However, rarely is it explained how they reached that conclusion.
As it turns out, despite the seemingly endless number of government and think tank reports being released all the time, there isn’t a single index measuring America’s military power against the threats it is asked to defend the country from. Or at least, there didn’t used to be.
Last week, the Heritage Foundation released the first edition of what will be an annual report on America’s military might. The report, entitled 2015 Index of U.S. Military Strength: Assessing America’s Ability to Provide for the Common Defense, is modeled on Heritage’s widely successful Index of Economic Freedom.
The military Index assesses America’s hard power, the condition of which is measured in terms of the military’s “capability or modernity, capacity for operations, and readiness to handle assigned missions successfully.” The report also assesses “the ease or difficulty of operating in key regions based on existing alliances, regional political stability, the presence of U.S. military forces, and the condition of key infrastructure.”
Read the full story at The Diplomat