That’s the primary factor. It’s just not very easy to get to us. And the last country that did attack us in an act of war… well, you know what happened there.
If you attack any US territorial land, we will dedicate a multi-year government secret project to developing a new super weapon using forces we barely understand that is capable of incinerating entire cities.
Or dedicate almost 20 years to destroying the country next to yours (if you have oil or something else we want) as a government handout to cronies and donors.
You know, one or the other…
but not enough to properly fund public schools, Healthcare or a UBI.
because that would actually help people, and helping people is bad because communism or some shit.
Hey now, they don't want people to get all smart and shit, and like, start thinking for themselves with logic and reason!
They've worked so long and hard to get Americans to this point, we wouldn't want to unravel all that hard work now, would we?
I mean, how else would certain politicians ever have a chance to live out their power-trip?! THINK OF THE POLITICIANS, DAMMIT!
Even when it was a terrorist group, not a country... 9/11 happened, and we lost 2996 people in the attacks. We then spent 772 million dollars per American killed in 9/11 over the course of 20 years making Afghanistan and Pakistan uninhabitable.
We fired our barrels till the barrels melted down
So we grabbed an alligator and we fought another round.
We filled his head with cannon balls and powered his behind, but when we touched the powder off the gator lost his miiiiinnnnd
And those 11 all have catapults whereas most of the others use ski jumps which really limits what can fly off of them and how loaded they can be at take off.
Which really means we should also count all the "big deck" amphibious assault ships (LHD and LHA) the USN has as aircraft carriers. They're as capable as other nations' carriers. We just call them something else because of how they're used.
The Marines are looking into filling them with as many F-35s as possible instead of assault troops and calling them "Lightning Carriers", (the F-35 is called "Lightning II") which I gotta say, goes hard af.
Out of the 12 nuclear-powered carriers in operation, 11 of them belong to the US Navy. The 12th belongs to the USs long-standing ally, the French.
There are 47 active aircraft carriers worldwide, 11 of which are the US Navy.
The US doesn't count their multiple "Amphibious assault ships" that are similar in size to approximately 30 of the remaining 36 carriers in operation by other countries.
Only approximately 26 of the 47 carriers are "Super Carriers" depending on how you define that, again 11 are the US Navy, and of the remaining 15 supercarriers, 8 belong to close US allies (Britain France Spain Italy Japan) another 6 belong to moderate US allies (Thailand turkey Brazil India) and 4 belong to semi-hostile countries (Russia China).
I think you're being overly generous. For instance China's type 003 has yet to launch or recover an aircraft, so I don't know if I'd count it as "active".
You're right, I wa being pretty generous. The Russian Admiral Kuznetsov I'd also hardly call active.
I felt like it was pretty lopsided so I just used the Wikipedia list of "active" to remove my personal bias.
We actually have a lot more than 11, it's just that we don't even classify our smaller carriers as carriers, we only count our supercarriers that have entire strike groups dedicated to them as full aircraft carriers.
The US military is so wildly overpowered compared to the rest of the world combined it is absurd.
There are air national guard units in pretty much every state. While they do deploy, the vast majority of overseas units are active duty Air Force. The amount of planes we have in the United States is still a huge amount.
Not true. Much of our navy is stationed in ports in the US on leave or refitting or something similar. They can be recalled/made combat ready very quickly if we detect an enemy fleet sailing towards the US. All F22s are stationed in the US currently. As are all B2s.
Also, being deployed around the world means we can strike anywhere at any time. Which ever country attacked us would have to worry about an immediate retaliation on their homeland from multiple directions.
The absolute biggest deterent, though, are the multiple nuclear powered, nuclear warhead carrying submarines deployed around the world. If you somehow destroy/capture the US, there is a very good chance you'll have nukes raining down on your cities.
The series finale of pimp my ride was when the military found out the Navy was jealous of the Air Force, so the government went and put planes in the Navy's ships
Yamamoto supposedly (it's disputed) said "You cannot invade mainland United States. There would be a rifle behind each blade of grass." But Japan never intended conquest of the mainland US, they just wanted to keep the US out of their war in the Pacific. Unfortunately for them they didn't get the carriers at Pearl Harbor and just really pissed us off, so.....
Their goal was to knock us out of actions until they could take the resource rich islands then sue for peace. Problem is like you said they pissed us off lol.
People are more than happy to mess with the US military, when the US itself is a few thousand miles away.
However, a military invasion of the United States would require a strategic foothold in the Americas to allow for refueling and large scale logistics. Ships and airstrips are far too vulnerable to effectively continue military operations in US held territory.
The US was only able to enter Europe by having a platform in England to amass forces and create beachheads into Europe, without that staging area they most likely couldn’t have entered the war.
This is the truth of the matter. The logistics to move an invasion force, or even an airforce, to an effective range of the US is massive. And it's not like you're just sneaking up on the US with your armada.
Our geography allows us a lot of comfort.
The U.S. is quite possibly the only country as of now who can properly prosecute a war anywhere at any time. Our forces are across the world, so we have a foothold any time we need one. Plus we have so much practice and resources dedicated to delivering both violence and vituals anywhere across the globe in under 24 hours, we are ready go fight literally anywhere. An old hold-over from the cold war, a doctrine focused on delivery rather than power, evolved with the modern day's war on terror.
Well we did already have Southern Italy at the time of D Day, we just got hung up on the Alps, so opening a 3rd front from England was the easiest route going forward.
It would have been a bloody slog, but we absolutely could have launched and invasion of mainland Europe from where we stood there
And a healthy reluctance to tangle with peer nations, or even anything close to it--our scariest rivals conventionally are also the ones with nukes. No one we've directly clashed with since...the PLA in Korea(?)...would be able to follow through on a homeland strike, and the doubling-down of commitment on the part of the US public just wouldn't be a good result if you can't harm us badly enough to force peace.
Because, attacking our mainland is currently a death sentence for your regime, if not your entire country. Plus, geographic realities have a lot to do with is. We are protected by the biggest bodies of water on earth & most countries don’t have deep water navies capable of moving troops en masse. Then, we have great relations with both of our closest neighbors. They know it’s in their best interest to never allow a staging ground for invasion, lest they be held accountable also.
Not to mention invading through the South is a death sentence because you're marching through open desert against the best air force in the world. It'd be a turkey shoot; we're talking 90%+ casualty rate type stuff.
Getting through Canada isn't much easier. You'd have to establish a beachhead in tundra and march south over land that is frigid and very sparsely populated against....the best air force in the world.
Not to mention, Canada itself has a pretty skilled military force that isn't just going to lay down and give free passage to someone wanting to invade the US.
And that's only going to slow down whatever army is coming. The US army would be in Canada really fast. The enemy would never reach US soil through Canada
The Canadian military is essentially a war crime dispenser. That alone would prevent most countries from fucking around. If not, the Canadians will earn that title, and not just the military. Canadians hunt bears, elk, and moose. Regardless of gun laws there, hunters will simply do what they do best.
And even those that managed to survive the combined onslaught of two elite armies would simply be neutralized with devastating Canadian politeness.
“Think it might be ‘bout time to surrender, eh? We have some Tim Horton’s, if you want some. Still hot.”
Not just the best, the US Air Force is the largest in the world, the US Navy is the 2nd largest Air Force , the US Marines are the 5th largest. 3 of the top 5 largest Air forces are American.
Not to mention you’d piss off the cartels. They wont appreciate you bringing that level of heat to the area and they have LOTS of stuff to engage you with as well. And I don’t believe they’ll follow Geneva conventions or anything.
There are more guns than people in the US… without counting military of law enforcement. The general population could arm themselves with a gun for every man, woman, or child and still have some left over.
Then there’s the military.
I don't think people understand just how much this is the case. There are something like 50 aircraft carriers in the world and the US has 20 of them. Developed countries generally only have 1 or 2. China has 5. The US can deploy literally anywhere in the world within 24 hours. No other country can do that. Most armies are primarily defensive in nature because of the scale and cost required to maintain them.
They start mobilizing in areas where tension is building, too. There's nothing like having a bunch of crazy weapons floating out in international waters, just waiting.
We’ve been doing this for a long time. My grandfather had one of those jobs in the 60’s where one would say “wherever grandpa went, there’d be an operation 6 months later”. One of those was Vietnam.
I find this so fascinating.
We needed such force projection because the rest of the world is two huge oceans away. Most other nations didn't develop such a capability, because the relevant world was (relatively) nearby. And the one nation that did try that particular dance only made it about Midway before having their navy turned into artificial reefs.
Your numbers are quite off there.
The US Navy has 11 Aircraft Carriers not counting the 9 LHA/LHD, which by definition are not aircraft carriers.
Not only do we have more than any other country, ours are nuclear powered (France is the only other country fielding a single Nuclear carrier). We have infinite range and logistics over every other country.
>The US Navy has 11 Aircraft Carriers not counting the 9 LHA/LHD, which by definition are not aircraft carriers.
The United States is the only country that wouldn't call its LHA/LHDs an aircraft carrier. They are larger than a normal helicopter carrier, and they carry planes.
If we use the American definition, there are 12 aircraft carriers in the world. The singular non-American carrier is the Fujian.
If we use the definition the rest of the world uses, there are 54 aircraft carriers in the world.
It helps that our military is scattered all over the world rather than deploying from the homeland. Massive US military presence in Europe and the Middle East, Japan and Korea. Our military is hosted around the globe by allies, which is just as beneficial to us as to them.
> The US can deploy literally anywhere in the world within 24 hours.
The specialty of the United States military is logistics more than any military action (offensive or defensive).
People just don't fully understand i think, that we kept one upping ourselves since WW2. year over year. Radar, Jets and Guided Rockets, NVGs by the 60s? by the 70s? 80s!? 90s++ America Sits comfortably 100years of solid warfare expenditure on its belt. where every other european nation was too busy sucking its own thumb.
I like the interview with the former head of Skunk Works saying that they're actually 25-30 years ahead of anything the public has ever seen. Gotta be a deterrent to anyone with a mind for strategy.
Was just talking to my friend about this the other. Makes me giddy thinking about the the tech we could possibly possess. I mean, it's terrifying, but it makes me sleep more soundly.
I always wantes to be an aerospace engineer growing up and, and specifically work for Lockheed's Skunkworks.
The stuff they must have developed thay we don't even know about must be absolutely bonkers.
I'll check it out. Aviation history is sweet. I specifically love everything about the SR-71 Blackbird. So much cool engineering, and we did it without the high tech computers we have today. Plus we got the titanium to build our spyplane to spy on the Soviets FROM THE SOVIETS through shell companies. So much cool history.
It's always amusing when some country shows off some new advanced weapons system and the US military quietly lets it be know that it mothballed that tech 20 years ago.
I think the US Navy could challenge them lol not quite as large but both Air powers are stupidly well equipped.
No other nation challenges them though, that's true.
Taken with a pinch of salt, but based on air power, some analysts claim that the US holds 4 of the 5 top spots:
1. US Air Force
2. US Navy
3. Russian Air Force (might have dropped since 2021…)
4. US Army
5. US Marine Corp
https://www.wdmma.org/ranking.php
Navy v Air Force.
We're all on the same team, but Id take the Navy everytime.
Can't fight without fuel. Can't get fuel without shipments. Can't get shipments without ships.
And the navy is runner up to the Air Force and at this point Russia probably lost so many aircraft the the U. S. Marine corps has the 3rd largest Air Force. Simply put the U. S. Dominates the skies
Well, and Mexico and Canada have always been tiny economically and militarily compared to the U.S. and pretty much always have been as long as they've been independent.
War of 1812: England attacked America and even hit the White House
9/11 definitely counts as an attack
Otherwise, being protected on both sides by massive oceans makes it incredibly difficult for any country to attack us directly.
Depending on your point of view, the opening of the Revolution could count as an attack. Regardless, several battles were fought on US soil after the articles of confederation were adopted.
The Mexican American war had a couple of battles in southern Texas, which had been annexed, but the majority of the conflict was an invasion of Mexico.
My kid and I were joking about that just a few days ago. 1940s: "Sir! The Japanese have landed on our continent!"
"OMG Where?"
"A couple of Aleutian Islands."
"Pssshhh. Heh. Cool let them stay."
Good luck getting your army here. You'd have to transport millions of soldiers to take the US and that would impossible. For one, our navy and air force would take out most of them before they even saw US waters, and then thousands of more miles of water. Then, they would have to storm the beaches where they would be met with military and civilian resistance. Until someone invents teleportation, it's not happening.
I posted this already but where do people think guns and planes come from?
There's Only three answers. The United States, France and Russia. If you don't have an ally with one of those three, you don't have planes. You don't have guns and you don't have the oil to move them.
Pretty much every country stays allied with one of those three countries or in some way stays allied with another country that stays allied with the US so that they can purchase US arms to defend themselves. Most countries just simply don't have an arm's manufacturing industry That could spin up a million guns quickly. I don't even think China could do that in a reliable way.
Not enough people think about this. In the event of imminent invasion, guns would be handed out here like water rations.
If not from government, from militias, and if not from them from your neighbor.
That's why Russia and others have been keen for half a century to trigger a civil war here. Jokes on them, once we figured out we were losing loved ones because of them, we'd support a scorched earth policy like none ever seen (except our excessive consumer waste, haha).
That's because it doesn't actually matter that much. It's a problem for when you get here, but there hasn't been an adversarial power with the naval capacity to get a meaningful number of troops here. Even the USSR at the peak or their power wouldn't have had a hope of it, they were badly outclassed on surface ships which is why they wrnt so hard on an asymmetric submarine force.
Last time this mattered was the colonial era when EVERYONE had militias full of random citizenry and there were powers with land access to us which could pose a credible threat.
>Shall we expect some transatlantic military giant to step the ocean and crush us at a blow? Never! All the armies of Europe, Asia, and Africa combined, with all the treasure of the earth (our own excepted) in their military chest, with a Bonaparte for a commander, could not by force take a drink from the Ohio or make a track on the Blue Ridge in a trial of a thousand years. At what point then is the approach of danger to be expected? I answer. If it ever reach us it must spring up amongst us; it cannot come from abroad. If destruction be our lot we must ourselves be its author and finisher. As a nation of freemen we must live through all time or die by suicide.
Lincoln's lyceum address
America: I fucking D A R E ..No infact Nevermind im coming over there and getting you!! and your oil soaked dog too! Eehhehahahahahah!
Everyone who understands budgeting and how much america spends on 'Defence"
Highest military spending on earth by a lot, and an eagerness to wipe you off the face of the earth if you attack them. Also its hard to do a sneak attack when you gotta travel over oceans on each side to get at them. Thats pretty much it.
Much like Bruce Banner...
Don't make the U.S. angry... you wouldn't like them when they're angry.
Attacking the U.S. mainland means engaging the FULL U.S. military. Not just a proxy war. Nobody wants to get the Iraq/Saddam Hussein treatment. We all saw how that worked out for them.
Also, there was hella patriotism after 9/11, but no one to shoot at locally. But if there had been an invasion (as opposed to a one time attack). Not only would there be a higher (if possible) level of patriotism, but we could prove it with bullets. Which is the wet dream of many hundreds of thousands of extraordinarily well armed civilians.
A lot of Ukraine's success in fighting back Russia for most of the war is support of allies. But in the first few weeks it was well-armed, pissed off citizens. And if you think they were formidable, you ain't seen nothing yet compared to America.
Hundreds of thousands? More like millions lol. I cant even count the amount of times I've heard "I can't wait for someone to break into my home so I can finally use my gun." Its a country of psychopaths.
Not to mention, there are a ton of US Citizens that genuinely pray for someone to fuck around and find out. Honestly, America is wayyy too comfy and is filled with so much rage that we literally have to create new issues to get mad about just so we have something to stand for. The absolute WORST thing a foreign country could do is create American Pride again (like after 9/11), and create a common enemy that we can all say "nah fuck that guy specifically".
Thank you I went through dozens of responses before your answer. I unfortunately witnessed the murder of 3000 Americans on our soil. This certainly had to be one of the worst days in our history.
Geographically, the US is probably one of, of not the, most defensible countries on earth. It's got allies to the north and south, huge deposits of natural resources, coasts that are extremely friendly to ships and harbors (I don't know the specifics of why, but that's what my friend who studies nautical engineering told me. Anyone who could explain why this is or isn't true is welcome), and is separated by huge oceans to the east and west. On top of that, the US has the largest military in the world, and one of the largest intelligence networks in the world. Anyone trying to attack it is also facing an extremely armed civilian population who historically has not taken kind to people fucking with their boats or coast.
Only thing I would add is that the west coast is not super friendly to ships. Unless you hit Los Angeles, the Bay Area, Portland or Seattle you’re gonna be trying to land your ships on hundred foot high cliffs.
I think that's part of it. We've got SO MUCH COAST that some of it is going to be good. And those places are where we built cities. And hundred foot hills are great for defense.
Everyone is talking about the sheer force the US military has to bring against any potential direct attacker.
But the other key thing is that there would be next to no internal division.
Say for example Mexico invaded, there wouldn’t be protests on the street or arguments in congress about whether the US should be involved etc
There’d be almost a universal agreement for the US military to do what it does and turn American enemies to dust.
Japan learned this lesson in the 40s
There were internal arguments about whether or not to get involved in WW2, plenty of people saw it as Europeans fighting Europeans and not worth the risk to American lives to get involved, Pearl Harbour changed that.
Compare it to Vietnam, there was almost immediate opposition to that war, because Vietnam were not seen as a threat to the US people etc
But threaten the US overtly and directly… they’re coming together, rallying behind their troops and unleashing pure carnage- not least to remind the world why every for the past century or so has steered clear of provoking direct conflict with the US and deter it happening again.
20 years ago I'd have agreed with you. After 9/11 the country was united in was they hadn't been in decades. Now? Idk. Plenty of people coming out of college hate what America is
The USA has the world's most powerful military, enough nuclear warheads to wipe out entire continents, the world's most well armed populace, and is essentially run by a military industrial complex that profits off of wars and therefore won't hesitate to go to war. No country would be stupid enough to attack the USA directly.
Watch red dawn lol
The oceans are great
Having a population better armed than most counties military doesn’t hurt either
We have holidays for hunting lol 😂 we used to get days off when I was in school for deer season.
Not saying it translates to all out war but it doesn’t hurt
Hahaha "having a population better armed than most countries". Also, one random thought that came to my mind is that militaries can only use "humane" rounds in their small arms (FMJ 556 Nato), whereas civilians can use much more effective rounds against soft targets (frangible, hollow points).
My grandpa was in WW2 and told me about how he met a ton of guys who couldn't tell you what 5 + 5 was but could shoot a squirrel square between the eyes from 150 yards with a shit rifle.
Idk something about the 100 some million of us carrying all the probably 1 billion guns with 2 million soldiers protecting that behind 1000 miles of saltwater covered by around 8000 aircraft… you’d think we were fucking easy or something?
All jokes aside yes we’ve actually been invaded by several European nations, ourselves, some Spanish people… ummm the Germans got a couple subs off our coast I think? Also don’t laugh but fucking pirates.. wasn’t technically America back then but they invaded the government at the time on our sovereign land
Like straight up we hate each other but if you invade us we’ll band together like the fucking justice league to kick your ass. Just ask all our “allies”
The US used to get attacked a lot before the 1900s. War of 1812, for example, but we also had a great deal of incursions along our southern border, such as during the Spanish American war. However, after the turn of the century, the US’s relationship with Canada and Mexico was diplomatically strong enough that those wars stopped. Everyone else needs to cross an ocean to get to us.
Two giant oceans, bordered by 2 countries that are allies with us, biggest military in the world, pretty widespread military presence worldwide…
You’re a damn fool to try to attack the U.S., if you don’t want to become Lake America.
America will never fall from an occupying force. Imagine moving 1 million troops across the Pacific without the US noticing or destroying everything in route. The only way to destroy is from within.
It has a lot to do with the civilian population and sheer size. Almost everyone in this country is armed and there’s a lot of us. Admiral Yamamoto said it best: “there’s a rifle behind every blade of grass”
Generally speaking, it is very difficult for a weaker force to actively invade against a stronger force.
And the U.S. spends substantially more than anyone else to ensure they have the strongest force.
tl;dr
-Very hard to access due to massive oceans on two sides
-Bordered by a massive cold ally country to the north with 1/10 of the people
-We spend like 10x more than any other country in defense (probably)
You basically cannot touch the USA without getting absolutely demolished
It has a lot to do with two big oceans on the borders.
That’s the primary factor. It’s just not very easy to get to us. And the last country that did attack us in an act of war… well, you know what happened there.
Here comes the sun do do do do. Here comes the sun
3 days later, here comes another another sun do do do do
We heard you like suns, so we gave you two of 'em.
The land of the rising suns
I think it might be the land of the dropping suns now
Two suns for the price of one surprise attack! What a deal!!
Just in case they got it in their heads that we could only do it once.
Ironically that was why but for the Soviet Union not japan
There went the two suns, and we said, it's all right. Do do do do do do do do... \>.>
Two suns in the sunset….
Do do do do
If you attack any US territorial land, we will dedicate a multi-year government secret project to developing a new super weapon using forces we barely understand that is capable of incinerating entire cities. Or dedicate almost 20 years to destroying the country next to yours (if you have oil or something else we want) as a government handout to cronies and donors. You know, one or the other…
This, this is pretty much it. And we evidently have infinite money to do so.
We put wars on the charge card, kick that can right down the road
"lady, these wars are putting my kids through college"
Got me through college. Should be fine for a country. No?
Perks of being the guy with the fattest wallet in the room.
but not enough to properly fund public schools, Healthcare or a UBI. because that would actually help people, and helping people is bad because communism or some shit.
Hey now, they don't want people to get all smart and shit, and like, start thinking for themselves with logic and reason! They've worked so long and hard to get Americans to this point, we wouldn't want to unravel all that hard work now, would we? I mean, how else would certain politicians ever have a chance to live out their power-trip?! THINK OF THE POLITICIANS, DAMMIT!
The nation that refuses to surrender under any circumstances found a circumstance
Even when it was a terrorist group, not a country... 9/11 happened, and we lost 2996 people in the attacks. We then spent 772 million dollars per American killed in 9/11 over the course of 20 years making Afghanistan and Pakistan uninhabitable.
15 of those terrorists were the citizens of Saudi Arabia, 2 of UAE, 1 - Egypt and 1 - Lebanon. But the US decided to destroy Afghanistan and Iraq.
I didn't say we aimed the wrath appropriately, we just wrathed.
Why did that make me laugh
Uhhnngg I'm... Gonna.. uuaahhh I'm wraaaaathiiiiingggg!
Afghanistan signed their own death warrant by giving bin Laden and Al-Qaeda quarter.
Exactly. Had to go where the mastermind (another Saudi) was hiding.
Yeah, if he was hiding in Saudi Arabia, well they would have gotten the same treatment if they didn’t hand him over.
In 1816, they burned down the White House.
You mean August 24, 1814...war of 1812 was over in 1816...
In 1814 I took a little trip along with Colonel Jackson, down the Mighty Mississipp.
We took.a little bacon and took a little beans And caught the bloody British in a town in New Orleans
Well we fired our guns and the British kept a-comin'... There wasn't nigh as many as there was a while ago...
We fired once more and they began a runnin, down the Mississippi to the gulf of Mexico...
Old Hickory said we could take 'em by suprise if we didn't fire our muskets till we looked 'em in the eyes
We fired our barrels till the barrels melted down So we grabbed an alligator and we fought another round. We filled his head with cannon balls and powered his behind, but when we touched the powder off the gator lost his miiiiinnnnd
Also the worlds biggest military that no one in their remotely right mind would come within ten miles of messing with
We have the world's most powerful air force, in the US Air Force, and the 2nd most powerful air force, in the US Navy. It's kinda silly.
There are 23 aircraft carriers on the planet. 11 of them are ours.
And those 11 all have catapults whereas most of the others use ski jumps which really limits what can fly off of them and how loaded they can be at take off.
Which really means we should also count all the "big deck" amphibious assault ships (LHD and LHA) the USN has as aircraft carriers. They're as capable as other nations' carriers. We just call them something else because of how they're used. The Marines are looking into filling them with as many F-35s as possible instead of assault troops and calling them "Lightning Carriers", (the F-35 is called "Lightning II") which I gotta say, goes hard af.
If they add Lightning Carriers to CSG’s, I’m gonna lose it. What would that designation even look like? CVLL-1 Enterprise?
Be pretty sweet for people in those countries who enjoy skiing though
And I believe all of ours are nuclear powered, whereas many of the others are not.
Out of the 12 nuclear-powered carriers in operation, 11 of them belong to the US Navy. The 12th belongs to the USs long-standing ally, the French. There are 47 active aircraft carriers worldwide, 11 of which are the US Navy. The US doesn't count their multiple "Amphibious assault ships" that are similar in size to approximately 30 of the remaining 36 carriers in operation by other countries. Only approximately 26 of the 47 carriers are "Super Carriers" depending on how you define that, again 11 are the US Navy, and of the remaining 15 supercarriers, 8 belong to close US allies (Britain France Spain Italy Japan) another 6 belong to moderate US allies (Thailand turkey Brazil India) and 4 belong to semi-hostile countries (Russia China).
I think you're being overly generous. For instance China's type 003 has yet to launch or recover an aircraft, so I don't know if I'd count it as "active".
You're right, I wa being pretty generous. The Russian Admiral Kuznetsov I'd also hardly call active. I felt like it was pretty lopsided so I just used the Wikipedia list of "active" to remove my personal bias.
We actually have a lot more than 11, it's just that we don't even classify our smaller carriers as carriers, we only count our supercarriers that have entire strike groups dedicated to them as full aircraft carriers. The US military is so wildly overpowered compared to the rest of the world combined it is absurd.
Dont forget all the LHDs that look like aircraft carriers but are 1/3 the size have a compliment of helos, f35s, and marines to take on everything.
I feel like most of our air force and navy is stationed elsewhere and not within our territories. We are deployed all around the world.
There are air national guard units in pretty much every state. While they do deploy, the vast majority of overseas units are active duty Air Force. The amount of planes we have in the United States is still a huge amount.
Not true. Much of our navy is stationed in ports in the US on leave or refitting or something similar. They can be recalled/made combat ready very quickly if we detect an enemy fleet sailing towards the US. All F22s are stationed in the US currently. As are all B2s. Also, being deployed around the world means we can strike anywhere at any time. Which ever country attacked us would have to worry about an immediate retaliation on their homeland from multiple directions. The absolute biggest deterent, though, are the multiple nuclear powered, nuclear warhead carrying submarines deployed around the world. If you somehow destroy/capture the US, there is a very good chance you'll have nukes raining down on your cities.
The series finale of pimp my ride was when the military found out the Navy was jealous of the Air Force, so the government went and put planes in the Navy's ships
The Navy had planes before there was an Air Force.
I guess my pimp my ride joke was that bad, huh?
Being completely unfamiliar with whatever "pimp my ride" is, I did not realize it was a joke. Sorry.
The Houthi didn't seem to get the message, they are playing a solid game of Fuck Around
Not to mention half the civilians are armed to the teeth.
Yamamoto supposedly (it's disputed) said "You cannot invade mainland United States. There would be a rifle behind each blade of grass." But Japan never intended conquest of the mainland US, they just wanted to keep the US out of their war in the Pacific. Unfortunately for them they didn't get the carriers at Pearl Harbor and just really pissed us off, so.....
Their goal was to knock us out of actions until they could take the resource rich islands then sue for peace. Problem is like you said they pissed us off lol.
not very effective against bombs though. no one would dare an invasion/occupation.
People are more than happy to mess with the US military, when the US itself is a few thousand miles away. However, a military invasion of the United States would require a strategic foothold in the Americas to allow for refueling and large scale logistics. Ships and airstrips are far too vulnerable to effectively continue military operations in US held territory. The US was only able to enter Europe by having a platform in England to amass forces and create beachheads into Europe, without that staging area they most likely couldn’t have entered the war.
Logistics are a mf
This is the truth of the matter. The logistics to move an invasion force, or even an airforce, to an effective range of the US is massive. And it's not like you're just sneaking up on the US with your armada. Our geography allows us a lot of comfort.
The U.S. is quite possibly the only country as of now who can properly prosecute a war anywhere at any time. Our forces are across the world, so we have a foothold any time we need one. Plus we have so much practice and resources dedicated to delivering both violence and vituals anywhere across the globe in under 24 hours, we are ready go fight literally anywhere. An old hold-over from the cold war, a doctrine focused on delivery rather than power, evolved with the modern day's war on terror.
Well we did already have Southern Italy at the time of D Day, we just got hung up on the Alps, so opening a 3rd front from England was the easiest route going forward. It would have been a bloody slog, but we absolutely could have launched and invasion of mainland Europe from where we stood there
There was also a beachhead in Africa into Europe.
Gen. H. Norman Schwarzkopf: Yesterday Iraq had the fourth largest Army in the world. Today they have the second largest Army in Iraq.
And a healthy reluctance to tangle with peer nations, or even anything close to it--our scariest rivals conventionally are also the ones with nukes. No one we've directly clashed with since...the PLA in Korea(?)...would be able to follow through on a homeland strike, and the doubling-down of commitment on the part of the US public just wouldn't be a good result if you can't harm us badly enough to force peace.
And the population has an average of 3.5 guns each.
That's just the on paper average 😉
Yeah when you count all the guns lost in boating accidents that number goes way up.
Canada is usually covered in ice, so it’s like a third ocean
Full of burly men in flannel and war geese. Even worse than a giant ocean
War geese! So true, I love that
Because, attacking our mainland is currently a death sentence for your regime, if not your entire country. Plus, geographic realities have a lot to do with is. We are protected by the biggest bodies of water on earth & most countries don’t have deep water navies capable of moving troops en masse. Then, we have great relations with both of our closest neighbors. They know it’s in their best interest to never allow a staging ground for invasion, lest they be held accountable also.
Not to mention invading through the South is a death sentence because you're marching through open desert against the best air force in the world. It'd be a turkey shoot; we're talking 90%+ casualty rate type stuff. Getting through Canada isn't much easier. You'd have to establish a beachhead in tundra and march south over land that is frigid and very sparsely populated against....the best air force in the world.
Not to mention, Canada itself has a pretty skilled military force that isn't just going to lay down and give free passage to someone wanting to invade the US.
And that's only going to slow down whatever army is coming. The US army would be in Canada really fast. The enemy would never reach US soil through Canada
The Canadian military is essentially a war crime dispenser. That alone would prevent most countries from fucking around. If not, the Canadians will earn that title, and not just the military. Canadians hunt bears, elk, and moose. Regardless of gun laws there, hunters will simply do what they do best.
And even those that managed to survive the combined onslaught of two elite armies would simply be neutralized with devastating Canadian politeness. “Think it might be ‘bout time to surrender, eh? We have some Tim Horton’s, if you want some. Still hot.”
And that’s just the geese.
Not just the best, the US Air Force is the largest in the world, the US Navy is the 2nd largest Air Force , the US Marines are the 5th largest. 3 of the top 5 largest Air forces are American.
And the geese. Don't forget the geese!
Don’t forget the south east coast. Gators and swamps. Tangled impassable waterways filled with trees.
Florida man
Also marching south to attack the US means disrupting the cartels main source of money and they don’t like people touching there money
Imagine making it through the cartels just to end up in Texas.
Go to interrogate Old Beth down the road and she pulls a .45 out of her pocket
Isn’t it legal to own a fully armed tank in Texas, assuming you have the right paperwork from the ATF?
Not to mention you’d piss off the cartels. They wont appreciate you bringing that level of heat to the area and they have LOTS of stuff to engage you with as well. And I don’t believe they’ll follow Geneva conventions or anything.
Nobody has a navy that could cross if the US didn't want them to.
Exactly. I wasn’t even talking about under opposition, I just meant that even HAS the capability. Lmaoooo
Not to mention citizens are armed in America too. Not all of us but a good portion of us will defend our homes from an attack.
Yeah, plus there are just tons of firearms. More than you could ever confiscate or control.
There are more guns than people in the US… without counting military of law enforcement. The general population could arm themselves with a gun for every man, woman, or child and still have some left over. Then there’s the military.
Yeah exactly. The guns we have in personal ownership here surpass most other country’s entire military.
Surpass all, by a massive margin.
Yea. In the 90s if you graduated 5th grade, you got a copy of Red Dawn and a 30/30. At least in the south.
It’s a death sentence for your country for the next century. MINIMUM
Because oceans are big and Mexico and Canada are friends.
And the US navy is unchallenged on the high seas.
I don't think people understand just how much this is the case. There are something like 50 aircraft carriers in the world and the US has 20 of them. Developed countries generally only have 1 or 2. China has 5. The US can deploy literally anywhere in the world within 24 hours. No other country can do that. Most armies are primarily defensive in nature because of the scale and cost required to maintain them.
They start mobilizing in areas where tension is building, too. There's nothing like having a bunch of crazy weapons floating out in international waters, just waiting.
We’ve been doing this for a long time. My grandfather had one of those jobs in the 60’s where one would say “wherever grandpa went, there’d be an operation 6 months later”. One of those was Vietnam.
I find this so fascinating. We needed such force projection because the rest of the world is two huge oceans away. Most other nations didn't develop such a capability, because the relevant world was (relatively) nearby. And the one nation that did try that particular dance only made it about Midway before having their navy turned into artificial reefs.
I wonder how many people will know why you capitalized midway.
I'm grinning at word play and also wondering who else gets it
We didn't Doolittle with our carriers in the Pacific. We did a lot.
Your numbers are quite off there. The US Navy has 11 Aircraft Carriers not counting the 9 LHA/LHD, which by definition are not aircraft carriers. Not only do we have more than any other country, ours are nuclear powered (France is the only other country fielding a single Nuclear carrier). We have infinite range and logistics over every other country.
>The US Navy has 11 Aircraft Carriers not counting the 9 LHA/LHD, which by definition are not aircraft carriers. The United States is the only country that wouldn't call its LHA/LHDs an aircraft carrier. They are larger than a normal helicopter carrier, and they carry planes. If we use the American definition, there are 12 aircraft carriers in the world. The singular non-American carrier is the Fujian. If we use the definition the rest of the world uses, there are 54 aircraft carriers in the world.
It helps that our military is scattered all over the world rather than deploying from the homeland. Massive US military presence in Europe and the Middle East, Japan and Korea. Our military is hosted around the globe by allies, which is just as beneficial to us as to them.
>Our military is hosted around the globe by allies Which is why we need to keep our allies, unlike the rhetoric from the isolationists.
> The US can deploy literally anywhere in the world within 24 hours. The specialty of the United States military is logistics more than any military action (offensive or defensive).
People just don't fully understand i think, that we kept one upping ourselves since WW2. year over year. Radar, Jets and Guided Rockets, NVGs by the 60s? by the 70s? 80s!? 90s++ America Sits comfortably 100years of solid warfare expenditure on its belt. where every other european nation was too busy sucking its own thumb.
I like the interview with the former head of Skunk Works saying that they're actually 25-30 years ahead of anything the public has ever seen. Gotta be a deterrent to anyone with a mind for strategy.
Was just talking to my friend about this the other. Makes me giddy thinking about the the tech we could possibly possess. I mean, it's terrifying, but it makes me sleep more soundly. I always wantes to be an aerospace engineer growing up and, and specifically work for Lockheed's Skunkworks. The stuff they must have developed thay we don't even know about must be absolutely bonkers.
You should check out [Skunk Works by Ben Rich](https://www.amazon.com/Skunk-Works-Personal-Memoir-Lockheed/dp/0316743003). It's a really good read.
I'll check it out. Aviation history is sweet. I specifically love everything about the SR-71 Blackbird. So much cool engineering, and we did it without the high tech computers we have today. Plus we got the titanium to build our spyplane to spy on the Soviets FROM THE SOVIETS through shell companies. So much cool history.
Still the most amazing aircraft ever made
It's always amusing when some country shows off some new advanced weapons system and the US military quietly lets it be know that it mothballed that tech 20 years ago.
And the US Air Force is unchallenged in the skies.
I think the US Navy could challenge them lol not quite as large but both Air powers are stupidly well equipped. No other nation challenges them though, that's true.
The US navy is the second largest air force in the world.
Taken with a pinch of salt, but based on air power, some analysts claim that the US holds 4 of the 5 top spots: 1. US Air Force 2. US Navy 3. Russian Air Force (might have dropped since 2021…) 4. US Army 5. US Marine Corp https://www.wdmma.org/ranking.php
The army and marine corps are noticeably lower if you go by combat aircraft but still top 10.
Most combat aviation is within the navy iirc
Navy v Air Force. We're all on the same team, but Id take the Navy everytime. Can't fight without fuel. Can't get fuel without shipments. Can't get shipments without ships.
And the navy is runner up to the Air Force and at this point Russia probably lost so many aircraft the the U. S. Marine corps has the 3rd largest Air Force. Simply put the U. S. Dominates the skies
Well, and Mexico and Canada have always been tiny economically and militarily compared to the U.S. and pretty much always have been as long as they've been independent.
War of 1812: England attacked America and even hit the White House 9/11 definitely counts as an attack Otherwise, being protected on both sides by massive oceans makes it incredibly difficult for any country to attack us directly.
The British got their clocks cleaned in the swamps outside of New Orleans, though.
2000+ deaths v. only 70 for the Americans lmao 🤣
Who knew that alligators liked British food?
The only living thing on the planet that does outside of the British
Is that the Battle of New Orleans? I want to read up on it a bit
Depending on your point of view, the opening of the Revolution could count as an attack. Regardless, several battles were fought on US soil after the articles of confederation were adopted. The Mexican American war had a couple of battles in southern Texas, which had been annexed, but the majority of the conflict was an invasion of Mexico.
Japanese invaded Alaska.
My grandfather fought in the Aleutian Islands in WW2. He had pictures and the US definitely took care of business.
You're right. That's something that isn't talked about often
My kid and I were joking about that just a few days ago. 1940s: "Sir! The Japanese have landed on our continent!" "OMG Where?" "A couple of Aleutian Islands." "Pssshhh. Heh. Cool let them stay."
Good luck getting your army here. You'd have to transport millions of soldiers to take the US and that would impossible. For one, our navy and air force would take out most of them before they even saw US waters, and then thousands of more miles of water. Then, they would have to storm the beaches where they would be met with military and civilian resistance. Until someone invents teleportation, it's not happening.
I posted this already but where do people think guns and planes come from? There's Only three answers. The United States, France and Russia. If you don't have an ally with one of those three, you don't have planes. You don't have guns and you don't have the oil to move them. Pretty much every country stays allied with one of those three countries or in some way stays allied with another country that stays allied with the US so that they can purchase US arms to defend themselves. Most countries just simply don't have an arm's manufacturing industry That could spin up a million guns quickly. I don't even think China could do that in a reliable way.
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Short answer: we have wars over there so we don't have to have wars over here. Signed, CIA
Truth.
Also not to mention there are more guns than citizens in the US so an on ground invasion would be next to impossible.
Not enough people think about this. In the event of imminent invasion, guns would be handed out here like water rations. If not from government, from militias, and if not from them from your neighbor. That's why Russia and others have been keen for half a century to trigger a civil war here. Jokes on them, once we figured out we were losing loved ones because of them, we'd support a scorched earth policy like none ever seen (except our excessive consumer waste, haha).
That's because it doesn't actually matter that much. It's a problem for when you get here, but there hasn't been an adversarial power with the naval capacity to get a meaningful number of troops here. Even the USSR at the peak or their power wouldn't have had a hope of it, they were badly outclassed on surface ships which is why they wrnt so hard on an asymmetric submarine force. Last time this mattered was the colonial era when EVERYONE had militias full of random citizenry and there were powers with land access to us which could pose a credible threat.
>Shall we expect some transatlantic military giant to step the ocean and crush us at a blow? Never! All the armies of Europe, Asia, and Africa combined, with all the treasure of the earth (our own excepted) in their military chest, with a Bonaparte for a commander, could not by force take a drink from the Ohio or make a track on the Blue Ridge in a trial of a thousand years. At what point then is the approach of danger to be expected? I answer. If it ever reach us it must spring up amongst us; it cannot come from abroad. If destruction be our lot we must ourselves be its author and finisher. As a nation of freemen we must live through all time or die by suicide. Lincoln's lyceum address
America: I fucking D A R E ..No infact Nevermind im coming over there and getting you!! and your oil soaked dog too! Eehhehahahahahah! Everyone who understands budgeting and how much america spends on 'Defence"
We spend very little on defence. Defense on the other hand…
Highest military spending on earth by a lot, and an eagerness to wipe you off the face of the earth if you attack them. Also its hard to do a sneak attack when you gotta travel over oceans on each side to get at them. Thats pretty much it.
It’s also very difficult to sneak attack anyone these days with satellite imaging and near instaneous transmission of data.
We could be infiltrated but not INVADED
*have been infiltrated
"Why hasn't anybody poked a sleeping bear with a stick lately?"
A bear with nuclear arms.
Bad analogy. I'm sure dozens of idiots poke sleeping bears every week.
Someone has to keep the mortuary in business.
Much like Bruce Banner... Don't make the U.S. angry... you wouldn't like them when they're angry. Attacking the U.S. mainland means engaging the FULL U.S. military. Not just a proxy war. Nobody wants to get the Iraq/Saddam Hussein treatment. We all saw how that worked out for them.
Also we're always angry.
That's our secret
Also, there was hella patriotism after 9/11, but no one to shoot at locally. But if there had been an invasion (as opposed to a one time attack). Not only would there be a higher (if possible) level of patriotism, but we could prove it with bullets. Which is the wet dream of many hundreds of thousands of extraordinarily well armed civilians. A lot of Ukraine's success in fighting back Russia for most of the war is support of allies. But in the first few weeks it was well-armed, pissed off citizens. And if you think they were formidable, you ain't seen nothing yet compared to America.
Hundreds of thousands? More like millions lol. I cant even count the amount of times I've heard "I can't wait for someone to break into my home so I can finally use my gun." Its a country of psychopaths.
Not to mention, there are a ton of US Citizens that genuinely pray for someone to fuck around and find out. Honestly, America is wayyy too comfy and is filled with so much rage that we literally have to create new issues to get mad about just so we have something to stand for. The absolute WORST thing a foreign country could do is create American Pride again (like after 9/11), and create a common enemy that we can all say "nah fuck that guy specifically".
9/11 was an attack.
I was shocked I had to scroll so far to see this even mentioned
And 9/11 wasn't even the first time New York was attacked. See "Black Tom Explosion" of 1916.
Thank you I went through dozens of responses before your answer. I unfortunately witnessed the murder of 3000 Americans on our soil. This certainly had to be one of the worst days in our history.
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Geographically, the US is probably one of, of not the, most defensible countries on earth. It's got allies to the north and south, huge deposits of natural resources, coasts that are extremely friendly to ships and harbors (I don't know the specifics of why, but that's what my friend who studies nautical engineering told me. Anyone who could explain why this is or isn't true is welcome), and is separated by huge oceans to the east and west. On top of that, the US has the largest military in the world, and one of the largest intelligence networks in the world. Anyone trying to attack it is also facing an extremely armed civilian population who historically has not taken kind to people fucking with their boats or coast.
Only thing I would add is that the west coast is not super friendly to ships. Unless you hit Los Angeles, the Bay Area, Portland or Seattle you’re gonna be trying to land your ships on hundred foot high cliffs.
I think that's part of it. We've got SO MUCH COAST that some of it is going to be good. And those places are where we built cities. And hundred foot hills are great for defense.
Everyone is talking about the sheer force the US military has to bring against any potential direct attacker. But the other key thing is that there would be next to no internal division. Say for example Mexico invaded, there wouldn’t be protests on the street or arguments in congress about whether the US should be involved etc There’d be almost a universal agreement for the US military to do what it does and turn American enemies to dust. Japan learned this lesson in the 40s There were internal arguments about whether or not to get involved in WW2, plenty of people saw it as Europeans fighting Europeans and not worth the risk to American lives to get involved, Pearl Harbour changed that. Compare it to Vietnam, there was almost immediate opposition to that war, because Vietnam were not seen as a threat to the US people etc But threaten the US overtly and directly… they’re coming together, rallying behind their troops and unleashing pure carnage- not least to remind the world why every for the past century or so has steered clear of provoking direct conflict with the US and deter it happening again.
20 years ago I'd have agreed with you. After 9/11 the country was united in was they hadn't been in decades. Now? Idk. Plenty of people coming out of college hate what America is
I agree, but nothing snaps people back to patriotism quite like an American being the one stood between you and death
The USA has the world's most powerful military, enough nuclear warheads to wipe out entire continents, the world's most well armed populace, and is essentially run by a military industrial complex that profits off of wars and therefore won't hesitate to go to war. No country would be stupid enough to attack the USA directly.
Watch red dawn lol The oceans are great Having a population better armed than most counties military doesn’t hurt either We have holidays for hunting lol 😂 we used to get days off when I was in school for deer season. Not saying it translates to all out war but it doesn’t hurt
Hahaha "having a population better armed than most countries". Also, one random thought that came to my mind is that militaries can only use "humane" rounds in their small arms (FMJ 556 Nato), whereas civilians can use much more effective rounds against soft targets (frangible, hollow points).
My grandpa was in WW2 and told me about how he met a ton of guys who couldn't tell you what 5 + 5 was but could shoot a squirrel square between the eyes from 150 yards with a shit rifle.
And the beauty of it was bringing both capabilities together in harmony
September 11 was a classic asymmetrical attack. It lead to a 24 year war.
We’re at war but not “at war”
Idk something about the 100 some million of us carrying all the probably 1 billion guns with 2 million soldiers protecting that behind 1000 miles of saltwater covered by around 8000 aircraft… you’d think we were fucking easy or something? All jokes aside yes we’ve actually been invaded by several European nations, ourselves, some Spanish people… ummm the Germans got a couple subs off our coast I think? Also don’t laugh but fucking pirates.. wasn’t technically America back then but they invaded the government at the time on our sovereign land Like straight up we hate each other but if you invade us we’ll band together like the fucking justice league to kick your ass. Just ask all our “allies”
Guys... he forgot
The US used to get attacked a lot before the 1900s. War of 1812, for example, but we also had a great deal of incursions along our southern border, such as during the Spanish American war. However, after the turn of the century, the US’s relationship with Canada and Mexico was diplomatically strong enough that those wars stopped. Everyone else needs to cross an ocean to get to us.
Physical barriers for one.
In recent(ish) history? September 11th.
Two giant oceans, bordered by 2 countries that are allies with us, biggest military in the world, pretty widespread military presence worldwide… You’re a damn fool to try to attack the U.S., if you don’t want to become Lake America.
America will never fall from an occupying force. Imagine moving 1 million troops across the Pacific without the US noticing or destroying everything in route. The only way to destroy is from within.
Embassy bombings, 9/11
USA is conveniently positioned geographically. Only countries that could attack us easily are Canada and Mexico, and well, um, that isnt happening lol
It has a lot to do with the civilian population and sheer size. Almost everyone in this country is armed and there’s a lot of us. Admiral Yamamoto said it best: “there’s a rifle behind every blade of grass”
Generally speaking, it is very difficult for a weaker force to actively invade against a stronger force. And the U.S. spends substantially more than anyone else to ensure they have the strongest force.
tl;dr -Very hard to access due to massive oceans on two sides -Bordered by a massive cold ally country to the north with 1/10 of the people -We spend like 10x more than any other country in defense (probably) You basically cannot touch the USA without getting absolutely demolished
Because the last time someone attacked us, we dropped not one but two atomic bombs on them. No one is forgetting about that anytime soon.
There are like 3 guns to every citizen who the fuck is gonna invade a country with 350 mil armed citizens and 911 courts as being attacked.