Wikipedia

List of military equipment of NATO

This list details the military equipment used by NATO. The page is sorted by countries listed alphabetically. After the country-specific lists is an overview of NATO military equipment, as well as general information about NATO forces: armies, air forces, and navies. The overview sections are based on the information in the lists that precede it.

A

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Albania

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B

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Belgium

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Bulgaria

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C

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Canada

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Croatia

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Czech Republic

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D

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Denmark

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E

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Estonia

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F

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Finland

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France

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G

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Germany

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Greece

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H

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Hungary

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I

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Iceland

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Italy

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L

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Latvia

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Lithuania

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Luxembourg

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M

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Montenegro

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N

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Netherlands

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North Macedonia

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Norway

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P

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Poland

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Portugal

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R

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Romania

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S

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Slovakia

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Slovenia

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Spain

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Sweden

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T

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Turkey

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U

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United Kingdom

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United States

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Armies and small arms, vehicles, artillery and air defence systems

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Armies

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The biggest army in NATO, by a significant margin, is the United States Army with 485,000 regular personnel, as of 2021. The US army is followed by the Turkish Army with 260,200 personnel. Most European members of NATO have total active personnel for their armies in the tens of thousands. Exceptions are the Greek and French Armies which have 100,000 and 118,000 personnel, respectively. The Italian Army has just under 100,000 and the British Army has 82,040. Others include the Albanian Army with 8,500 personnel, the Slovenian Ground Force with 7,300 personnel, the Army of North Macedonia with 6,100 personnel, the Army of Montenegro with 1,500 personnel, and the Luxembourg Armed Forces with 950 personnel. Iceland does not have a standing army and its only defense force is the Icelandic Coast Guard with 3 ships and 4 aircraft. The Finnish Defence Forces have a large war-time reserve of 280,000 soldiers.

Ammunition

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The standard NATO ammunition for service small arms is 5.56mm NATO, although 7.62mm NATO is still in use with machine guns and sniper rifles. However, some former Warsaw pact countries now in NATO still use the standard Soviet assault rifle round for their Kalashnikov rifles and variants. 9mm Parabellum is still in use for sidearms. The 12.7mm NATO cartridge, also known as the .50 BMG, is standard for heavy machine guns. Tank ammo has also been standardised across NATO with 120×570mm NATO ammunition being in use in all NATO tanks except the British Challenger 2, though the Challenger 3 will use 120×570mm NATO ammunition when it comes into service in 2027.[75] All NATO tank ammo having the same dimensions means a round from any NATO country can be fired in any NATO tank. For example, a Leopard 2 can fire American M829 tank ammo and vice versa. Western-aligned countries such as Israel, Japan, and South Korea also make ammo to NATO standards.

Small arms

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A relatively large number of NATO standard service arms are from the M16 family of assault rifles, such as the M4 carbine, Colt Canada C7, and Heckler & Koch HK416. Former Warsaw pact countries still use rifles from the AK family. Other assault rifles in NATO service are the Steyr AUG, Heckler & Koch G36, FN SCAR, Saab Bofors Dynamics AK5, SA 80, Knights Armament Company KS-1,[76] Beretta AR70/90, Beretta ARX160, CZ 805 BREN, and HS Produkt VHS. Note that while the FAMAS is still used by France in 2022, it is set to soon be replaced by the HK 416. NATO sidearms are from large commercial pistol manufacturers, which are Beretta with the Beretta 92, SIG Sauer with the SIG Sauer M17, Glock with its Glock pistol, Heckler & Koch with the Heckler & Koch USP, and CZUB with their CZ 75.

Machine guns are usually either a 5.56 FN Minimi or 7.62 FN MAG, both made by FN Herstal. However, Germany makes its own machine guns: the 5.56mm MG4 and the 7.62mm MG5. Denmark uses a modernised version of the Cold War US M60. The old MG 3 machine gun is still in service with the Bundeswehr and in the armies of other NATO members, although it is being phased out by the Bundeswehr and should be replaced by the MG4 and MG 5 in the future.

NATO has a wide variety of infantry anti-tank weapons: the FGM-148 Javelin, M72 LAW, NLAW, Panzerfaust 3, MATADOR, Carl Gustaf, AT4, Spike, C90-CR (M3), Eryx, MILAN, Missile Moyenne Portée, RPG-75, RPG-7, and the 9K111 Fagot. The only anti-tank weapons that are not in widespread use in NATO are the French Eryx, only used by France and Turkey, the Missile Moyenne Portée, also only in use with France, and the British and Swedish NLAW, only used by the United Kingdom. For infantry anti-aircraft weapons, NATO countries possess various Man-portable air-defense systems, such as the FIM-92 Stinger, Starstreak, and Piorun. The Stinger and Mistral missiles are commonly used throughout NATO, while the Starstreak and Piorun missiles are only used in their countries of origin.

Armoured fighting vehicles

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There are 5 types of MBT's in NATO that are modern enough for a conflict with Russia. The majority of NATO members use the Leopard 2 as their main tank, with some countries, such as Spain and Poland, having their own variants. The Leopard 2A4 is the most widely used, but oldest, variant in current use. NATO also uses the variants developed after the 2A4: the 2A5, 2A6, and 2A7. The US M1 Abrams tank is mainly used by the US; Poland is the only other NATO country that uses them, alongside their Leopard 2s. The M1 Abrams is in service in large numbers with the US army and the Leopard 2 is in widespread service throughout NATO, making these tank types the bulk of NATO's armoured strength. Other tanks, in much smaller numbers, are the Challenger 2, Leclerc, and Ariete. These tanks are only used in NATO by their respective countries. There are roughly 200 tanks in service for each latter tank type, making for a total of 600, in addition to the roughly 1500 Leopard 2's and roughly 2500 M1 Abrams, the majority of which are M1A2's and the rest M1A1's. Therefore, roughly half of NATO's tank strength is composed of American M1 Abrams tanks and the other half of European Leopard 2s, with the smaller numbers of Challenger 2's, Leclerc's, and Ariete's. While the tanks previously listed are the main NATO tank forces, other NATO members operate obsolete Cold War–era tanks from both the West and the Soviet Union. Some of those Soviet tanks are variants of an original Soviet design. The countries that operate these tanks do not have the ability to deploy them abroad, so they could not be used in NATO operations against poorly armed opponents where they might be useful.

There is somewhat more variety of infantry fighting vehicles (IFV), due to the lower unit cost compared to a tank. The US M2 Bradley makes up a substantial number of infantry fighting vehicles in NATO with the US operating roughly 6,000. Other IFV's in NATO, numbering in the hundreds for each type are the Puma, Warrior, Dardo, Freccia, ASCOD, Combat Vehicle 90, VBCI, LAV III, BMP-1, and BMP-2. The total for all these IFVs is around 5000, meaning the US supplies roughly half of NATO's IFVs. The previous list does not include light vehicles that are not classified as IFVs, such as the Stryker, Boxer, Piranha, Patria AMV, Patria Pasi, Pandur II, and Pandur I. A number of NATO members distinguish between IFVs, which are more heavily armed and designed to cooperate with tanks, and wheeled APCs, which are more lightly armed and armoured and are employed to carry infantry independent of armoured formations. The majority of modern wheeled APCs in NATO are Strykers numbering roughly 4,500. The next most widely available APC is the Patria AMV, with Poland having a large number (roughly 1000 vehicles) and other NATO members employing much smaller numbers. Next is the Boxer with roughly 800 in NATO use, with that number to increase to 1400 by 2022, as the British Army has ordered roughly 600 additional vehicles. The second least used is the MOWAG Piranha with roughly 500 in service in NATO. The modern wheeled APC in the smallest numbers in NATO is the Pandur II with 250, the majority being used by Portugal and a smaller number by the Czech republic. Slovenia has also made a request for 14 Pandur IIs, as they already operate the Pandur I. Older vehicles still in use as tracked APC's are the M113 armored personnel carrier, FV430 Bulldog, and ELVO Leonidas-2. Most APCs can also be configured into specialist vehicles in most militaries.

Artillery

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The most widely deployed self-propelled artillery vehicles in NATO service are the M109 howitzer and Panzerhaubitze 2000. As of 2022, the AS-90, AMX-30 AuF1, K9 Thunder, T-155 Fırtına, and AHS Krab are each operated only by their country of origin, except for the K9 Thunder which is Korean but operated by Norway. The CAESAR self-propelled howitzer is unusual for a self-propelled artillery vehicle, as it is unarmoured. The CAESAR is, as of 2022, soon to be used by multiple NATO members. The Czech 152 mm SpGH DANA self-propelled artillery is also unarmoured and used by multiple NATO members. The Archer Artillery System is used by Sweden and on an interim basis by the UK.[77] Of towed artillery in NATO service, some countries still use old Cold War US and Soviet, or even World War II US, towed artillery pieces, as well as US self-propelled artillery from the Cold War.

In terms of modern non-self-propelled artillery in NATO, there is the L118 light gun, as well as the FH70, both of which are used by multiple NATO countries. The M777 howitzer is only used by US and Canada. In terms of multiple rocket launchers (MLR), the most widely used unit is the M270 Multiple Launch Rocket System. The M142 HIMARS is only used by US and Romania, and the RM-70 multiple rocket launcher by Greece, Poland, and Slovakia. Only Poland uses the WR-40 Langusta.

Air defence systems

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The main air-defence system in NATO is the MIM-104 Patriot. Others in use are the NASAMS, CAMM, and, in Eastern Europe, the Cold War Soviet 2K12 Kub. THAAD is a system designed to intercept ballistic missiles and is in use in NATO only by the US.

Aircraft

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Fighters

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The majority of NATO fighters are General Dynamics F-16 Fighting Falcons. This is due to the fighter being made in relatively large quantities, widespread use by the US airforce and the selling of F-16's to US NATO allies, such as Turkey, Poland, and the Netherlands. The Eurofighter Typhoon is also commonly used in NATO, although not in the same quantities as the F-16, with the United Kingdom, Germany, Italy, and Spain using it as their main fighter. The Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightning II is also widely used in NATO and is growing in numbers, with the US having a large number in service and smaller numbers being operated by individual NATO countries. The Dassault Rafale is for now only used by France with a small number being acquired by Greece in 2020. The McDonnell Douglas F/A-18 Hornet is also deployed, although in smaller quantities than even the Rafale, with the fighter being used by Spain and by Canada as Canada's McDonnell Douglas CF-18 Hornet, a modernised variant of the Hornet. Swedish, Czech and Hungarian air forces are operating a number of Saab JAS 39 Gripen, in total about 130 aircraft.

Attack helicopters

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The Boeing AH-64 Apache is the most widely used attack helicopter in NATO, mainly because hundreds are in US service along with smaller amounts serving with the UK, Netherlands, and Greece. The Eurocopter Tiger is also present in quantity in NATO, with France, Germany, and Spain.

Ships

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The US Navy forms the bulk of NATO's naval strength, through large numbers as well as having the most advanced aircraft carriers in the world. The majority of European Navies only operate frigates and smaller craft to protect their own waters and lack a substantially armed "blue-water navy". However, the British, French, Italian, and Spanish navies add a significant amount of naval power to NATO's naval strength. They all operate destroyers to escort their carriers, although Spain designates their destroyers as frigates.

The US operates 11 aircraft carriers, and the Royal Navy has two aircraft carriers, as does the Italian Navy. France and Spain each have one aircraft carrier. While the non-US and non-UK carriers are not as advanced, most operate modern aircraft, except Spain's, so they are a significant NATO asset that increases NATO naval power considerably. Despite not being blue water navies the German, Dutch, Danish, Norwegian, and Turkish navies have ships that could make a significant difference to a NATO carrier strike group or task force.

References

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