Burma vs. Thailand
Military
| Burma | Thailand | |
|---|---|---|
| Military branches | Burmese Defense Service (Tatmadaw): Army (Tatmadaw Kyi), Navy (Tatmadaw Yay), Air Force (Tatmadaw Lay); People's Militia; Border Guard Forces; Ministry of Home Affairs: People's Police Force (2021) note: the Burmese military controls the People's Militia, Border Guard Forces, and the Ministry of Home Affairs | Royal Thai Armed Forces (Kongthap Thai, RTARF): Royal Thai Army (Kongthap Bok Thai, RTA; includes Thai Rangers (Thahan Phrahan)), Royal Thai Navy (Kongthap Ruea Thai, RTN; includes Royal Thai Marine Corps), Royal Thai Air Force (Kongthap Akaat Thai, RTAF); Office of the Prime Minister: Internal Security Operations Command (ISOC; oversees counter-insurgency operations, as well as countering terrorism, narcotics and weapons trafficking, and other internal security duties); Ministry of Interior: Volunteer Defense Corps (2021) note: the Thai Rangers (aka Thahan Phrahan or 'Hunter Soldiers') is a paramilitary force formed in 1978 to clear Communist Party of Thailand guerrillas from mountain strongholds in the country's northeast; it is a light infantry force led by regular officers and non-commissioned officers and comprised of both full- and part-time personnel; it conducts counterinsurgency operations in the southern region; on the eastern border with Laos and Cambodia, the Rangers have primary responsibility for border surveillance and protection |
| Military service age and obligation | 18-35 years of age (men) and 18-27 years of age (women) for voluntary military service; no conscription (a 2010 law reintroducing conscription has not yet entered into force); 2-year service obligation; male (ages 18-45) and female (ages 18-35) professionals (including doctors, engineers, mechanics) serve up to 3 years; service terms may be stretched to 5 years in an officially declared emergency (2019) | 21 years of age for compulsory military service; 18 years of age for voluntary military service; males register at 18 years of age; 2-year conscript service obligation based on lottery (2019) |
| Military expenditures - percent of GDP | 2.7% of GDP (2019 est.) 2.9% of GDP (2018 est.) 3.2% of GDP (2017 est.) 3.7% of GDP (2016 est.) 4.1% of GDP (2015 est.) | 1.4% of GDP (2020 est.) 1.3% of GDP (2019) 1.4% of GDP (2018) 1.6% of GDP (2017) 1.6% of GDP (2016) |
| Military - note | since the country's founding, the armed forces have been heavily involved in domestic politics and ran the country for five decades following a military coup in 1962; the military controls three key security ministries (Defense, Border, and Home Affairs), one of two vice presidential appointments, 25% of the parliamentary seats, and has a proxy political party, the Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP) the military owns and operates two business conglomerates that have over 100 subsidiaries and have close ties to other companies; the business activities of these conglomerates include banking and insurance, hotels, tourism, jade and ruby mining, timber, construction, real estate, and the production of palm oil, sugar, soap, cement, beverages, drinking water, coal, and gas; some of the companies supply goods and services to the military, such as food, clothing, insurance, and cellphone service; the military also runs manages a film industry, publishing houses, and television stations the military's primary operational focus is internal security, particularly counterinsurgency operations against ethnic-based insurgent groups; these operations have resulted in numerous civilian casualties, human rights abuses, and internal displacement there are approximately 20 ethnic-based armed groups operating in Burma with strengths of a few hundred up to more than 20,000 estimated fighters; they are estimated to control about one-third of the country's territory, primarily in the border regions; key groups include the United Wa State Army, the Karen National Union, the Kachin Independence Army, the Arakan Army, the Ta'ang National Liberation Army, and the Myanmar Nationalities Democratic Alliance Army; in 2015, the Burmese Government signed a Nationwide Ceasefire Agreement (NCA) with eight mostly small armed groups, including the All Burma Students' Democratic Front, Arakan Liberation Party, Chin National Front, Democratic Karen Benevolent Army, Karen National Liberation Army-Peace Council, Karen National Union, Pa-O National Liberation Organization, and Shan State Army-South; seven other groups did not sign the NCA, but have signed bi-lateral ceasefires with the Burmese Government, including the National Democratic Alliance Army, Shan State Army, New Mon State Army, Karenni Army, National Socialist Council of Nagaland-Khaplang, and the United Wa State Army, which is assessed to be the largest and most capable group, with more than 20,000 fighters; others, such as the Arakan Army (Chin, Kachin, Rakhine, Shan states; the Arakan Army entered into ceasefire negotiations with the Burmese Government in November 2020), Kachin Independence Army (Kachin state), Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army (Shan state), Shanni Nationalities Army (Kachin state), and Taang National Liberation Army (Shan state) continue to engage in active insurgent operations against the Burmese Government; since March 2021, the Karen National Union has resumed fighting with the Burmese military in addition, Burma has a large number (estimates run into the thousands) of armed militias which take many different forms and vary in allegiances and size; most are pro-government and associated with the Tatmadaw; some are integrated within the Tatmadaw's command structure as Border Guard Forces (BGF); BGF are organized as 325-man battalions that include a mix of militia forces, ethnic armed groups, and government soldiers; they are armed, supplied, and paid by the Tatmadaw; other pro-government militias are not integrated within the Tatmadaw command structure, but receive direction from the military and are recognized as government militias; the amount of support they receive from the Tatmadaw varies depending on local security conditions; a third type of pro-government militias are small community-based militias that are armed, coordinated, and trained by local Tatmadaw units and activated as needed; anti-government militias are typically associated with ethnic-based armed organizations | including the most recent in 2014, the military has attempted nearly 20 coups since the fall of absolute monarchy in 1932 since 2004, the military has fought against separatist insurgents in the southern provinces of Pattani, Yala, and Narathiwat, as well as parts of Songkhla; the insurgency is rooted in ethnic Malay nationalist resistance to Thai rule that followed the extension of Siamese sovereignty over the Patani Sultanate in the 18th century; the insurgency consists of several armed groups, the largest of which is the Barisan Revolusi Nasional-Koordinasi (BRN-C): since 2018, the Thai military has been negotiating with an umbrella organization, MARA Pattani, that claims to represent the insurgency groups; since 2004, the fighting has claimed about 7,000 lives; as of late 2020, as many as 100,000 military and paramilitary forces were deployed in the south to combat the insurgency
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| Military and security service personnel strengths | information varies widely; approximately 400,000 total active troops (est. 360,000 Army; 20,000 Navy; 20,000 Air Force) (2021) | estimates for the size of the Royal Thai Armed Forces (RTARF) vary widely; approximately 350,000 active duty personnel (240,000 Army; 65,000 Navy; 45,000 Air Force); est. 20,000 Thai Rangers; est. 5-6,000 Internal Security Operations Command (2020) |
| Military equipment inventories and acquisitions | the Burmese military inventory is comprised mostly of older Chinese and Russian/Soviet-era equipment with a smaller mix of more modern acquisitions; since 2010, China and Russia are the leading suppliers of military hardware; Burma has a limited defense industry, including a growing shipbuilding capability (2020) | the RTARF has a diverse array of foreign-supplied weapons systems, including a large amount of obsolescent or second-hand US equipment; since 2010, Thailand has received military equipment from nearly 20 countries with China, South Korea, Sweden, Ukraine, and the US as the leading suppliers (2020) |
Source: CIA Factbook
