No. of Recommendations: 9
Are ground troops the totality of any military?
Sometimes, yes.
Consider Austria. They have no navy. Don't need one. Their air force totals 94 aircraft (looked it up). They do have a standing army.
Iceland has no army at all. Not one soldier. They have a coast guard.
Canada has an air corps, a coast guard, and ground troops. Their navy is small, and primarily for coastal defense. They have no interest in projecting power internationally, so they really don't need more than that.
We have a ginormous military to counter real enemies (like the Soviets), and because we have economic interests all over the planet.
Different countries have different military compositions specific to their needs. That's why the joint strike fighter never really worked. Each nation had different needs for the aircraft, so they could never get a design that did everything every nation wanted.
