Countries that Cuba can beat in a war?

Who can Cuba defeat?

In theory...based on strength of military and and economics...not esoteric things like leadership or ability to project force, it's a pretty long list...I'll give a partial:

• Lybia
• Democratic Republic of Congo
• Jordan
• Tunisia
• Serbia
• Oman
• Turkmenistan
• Zimbabwe
• Gorgeia
• Zambia
• Armenia
• Kenya
• Albania
• Mongolia
• Kuwait
• Sri Lanka
• New Zealand
• Kyrgystan
• Slovenia
• Uganda
• Chad
• Lithuania
• Tajikistan
• Bahrain
• Tanzania
• South Sudan
• Qatar
• Napal
• Cambodia
• Botswana
• Guatamala
• Latvia
• Lebanon

@heroup2112: Cuba's tougher than many give it credit for

Geography and the practical range of their military will dictate what countries they can defeat.

Offensively that would be countries in Caribbean that are technologically and logistically inferior to theirs.

Defensively well they could probably defeat countries on the same technological parity or maybe even more depending on its geographical location.

They could probably defeat Japan, South Korea, Germany in a short defensive war in my opinion unless those countries opted for a more strategic siege campaign: blockade and trade embargo, etc.

No one.

Who cares about Cuba

Indeed.

I have to very much disagree, the military forces of Japan, South Korea, and Germany are so vastly superior and outnumber Cuba in all ways it wouldn't take very long at all to defeat Cuba's defenses and take military and governmental control in three weeks or so. Actually pacifying the country and dealing with resistance forces are another matter entirely.

I don't think that Japan, South Korea, and Germany had enough logistic capabilities to established a resilient beach head on a country far away from theirs' in the middle of the Carribean.

Even the US had to piggy back on their strategic bases located in their allies' territories during any attempt of foreign military actions and that considering that the US had a highly functional and capable Marine Organization supported by Navy with Aircraft Carriers capability

Without any means of gaining air superiority, invading surface ship will be very vulnerable to air assaults. And any attempt to establish an amphibous landing will be destroyed before the force could establish a beach head.

Germany, Japan and South Korea don't have that capabilities (of course not counting any strategic top secret weapons they have). Im pretty sure none of them have an air craft carrier that can support landing operation in the Carribean.

In Japan's case they are just re-establishing their Marine unit as their forces are mainly oriented for defensive purposes not as a full-fledge offensive force that could launch an invasion half way across the globe.

Ofcourse im talking about defensive warfare here. Meaning Cuba has to defend itself from an active military invasion (non-including strategic blockade, trade embargo, alliances, etc.

Ah, well like I said in my first post, if we're talking about ability to project force...ie logistic capabilities to actually INVADE other place, than Cuba couldn't take on almost any of the countries I've listed. However, Japan, and South Korea have enough frigates to carry a landing force that MIGHT be able to do it (Germany doesn't), and submarines to establish a safety corridor. Japan certainly has enough aircraft carriers and an OVERWHELMING number of aircraft to start landing troops and equipment IF a beachhead is established.

Not saying it's a done deal, but yeah. Japan is really the only one who could conceivably do it.

I was just talking set piece battle though honestly.

None of the four countries listed really have the force projection required to waste the resources needed to try to invade a well protected island.

@heroup2112:

I didn't realize that Japan and South Korea could operate a Navy and amphibious unit that far away from their own shore.

Frigates (being a relatively small vessel) in particular had a very limited range of operation and requires regular refueling and supply as far as i know (Unless they are nuclear powered).

Can they really bring an effective Army from Japan/South Korea to the shores of Cuba using only frigates and mass up enough to establish a beach head against an active resisting force?

I mean even the US with its ability unrivalled ability to project force had to island-hop or used ally territory to carry out such kind of invasion.

Cuba has some serious Soviet tech within their military, Cuba might be poor, but is seriously armed, countries which are slightly economically more powerful, have no chance.

Cuba's exports ranks around the $2.77 billions while even countries like Zambia which are considered really poor but wealthier than Cuba, but being more precisely regarding Zambia's exports, which ranks around the $10.5 billions, has no chance despite there is a real gap, but it's because Cuba received tons of arms from the URSS during the cold war and despite such tech is already outclassed or obsolete, they are still a huge threat against less developed countries which can't buy modern weapons.

@heroup2112:

So ive checked the Japanese Navy Carrier fleet and all they currently have are 4 Helicopter Carrier class ships.

I don't think helicopters are effective Combat Air Patrol units specially against dedicated interceptors and fighters.

I think Japan have F-35s now which is a game changer that can practically annihilate the Cuban Airforce but i don think its in active operation nor has the ability to conduct strategic bombing from Japan to Cuba.

Most of the Japanese jets J-2, F-15 are limited for self defense purposes.

Though they could probably replicate the British long range Air refueling Falkland war strategy and conduct strategic bombing but i doubt they could be use as an air-superiority fighter to support amphibious landing... well not on that range.

To begin with, Germany has one of the strongest heavy machinery industry in the world.

If necessary, if the German government gives the orders, all our well-known industries, such like Daimler AG, Volkswagen AG, Thyssenkrupp AG, Bayer, BASF SE, BMW, Siemens, etc... they are perfectly capable to switch to an armament production, like happened before and during the WWII and it was just only a matter of a couple of 2 years or less, till we were heavily armed, it's because our industry was always strong, precisely in 1881 with the BASF SE industry.

Industries like Volkswagen AG, BMW AG, Hugo Boss, Daimler AG, BASF SE, etc..., they all cooperated with the Third Reich and if our national security is threatened, the blitz switch would come in play again, because we are really systematic.

Japan is similar as well, one thing is that there is no necessity.

Like I said, it wasn't MUCH of a chance. Frigates can be converted to carry troops (which was successfully done in WW2), F-35s are crap btw, I don't know why Japan bought them, or why we make and use them...just side note. Yeah, I was giving South Korea too much credit. They only have one F35 though so that's not a big deal. They DO however have a mix of F4 and F2 Fighter/ Ground Attack craft numbering 133 that can easily fulfill a ground attack roll while the 155, F15s absolutely clear the skies of enemy fighters so the ground attack craft can bomb at will. Then there are all the Electronic Warfare planes, and yes they do have a sizable number of in air refueling planes as well.

Air power isn't the real problem though, no war is won through air power (though it CAN be a deciding factor) it's getting troops and equipment onto the ground, and THAT is going to be a problem for the Japanese. Even if they CAN clear a beach head with their Helo gunships and planes they still have to get troops off the converted frigates and onto the beaches.

They only have three tank landing ships so putting enough tanks and troops on a beach would be EXCEEDINGLY difficult.

So once again, not saying the absolutely CAN do it, just saying they're the only ones with a chance.

Geographically and politically? Damn near no one.

In a hypothetical scenario where neighboring countries would stay out? They could easily take out Estonia, where I live.

America if they job

The Duchy of Grand Fenwick

lol The entire United States would have to be cross faded HARD for them to take just the Gulf Coast. I don't mean just the country's military, I mean the entire country.

PS, I know you were joking.

Wakanda

Vatican City, presumably.

@heroup2112: Qatar? Really?

Cuba

Turks and Caicos

@heroup2112: I don't see how they're beating Kuwait when the latter has nearly 15 times their defense budget.

There we go

Cuba in the Angolan civil war was giving western backed UNITA and Apartheid South Africa the work and basically carrying the world. Apartheid South Africa which was NOT a joke which was the most powerful African military at the time and even had a nuclear program. Cuba has a GOOD military history. Going by their geography location I bet they can beat most of the Caribbean, they can probably take on Venezuela and Colombia in South America and can probably beat Panama, Honduras and El Salvador in Central America.

They may have that much greater a defense budget but even if they didn't still have a MUCH smaller armed forces (I have no idea what they actually spend it on), I've actually seen these morons "train" (by coincidence).

If you like I'll relate some of my experiences "working" with the Kuwaiti "armed forces" just let me know. One thing I can tell you is they pretty much close up shop during the summer months when it gets too hot.

You served in Desert storm?

No, but I did several Desert Spring (maintaining a military presence in Kuwait to keep Iraq from getting any stupid ideas) rotations. Trust me, when Desert Storm happened, other than a few easy air missions against a few Iraqi ships, the only thing the Kuwaiti troops did was retake the almost entirely undefended Ali Al Seleem air field.

I WILL say this. There was one unit during the August 1990 Iraqi invasion (I wasn't there but I've learned a lot about the invasion and the war) that stood its ground and kicked a lot of ass. The 35th Armored Brigade led by (then) Colonel Salem Masoud Al-Sorour (I've tried very hard to find out if he's a Kuwaiti national or not, but sense it is never mentioned my belief is that he is not...he's a retired Brigadier General now) and the Emir's half brother Sheikh Fahad Al-Ahmed Al-Jaber Al-Sabah who was also technically a commander (every account I've read has NO problem touting HIS Kuwaiti nationality).

The Battle of the Bridges or The Battle of Jal al Atraf was pretty impressive. The 35th regiment was MASSIVELY outgunned, out manned, and a whole lot of their men were on summer leave (remember what I said about them closing up shop during the summer?) they basically had a skeleton crew and had almost no time to prepare, It should also be noted that the greatest number of them were not Kuwaiti nationals, but anyway...

During the first day of fighting, and through the night the 35th inflicted heavy damage and casualties on the Iraqis, but by the early morning of the second day, they were out of almost every supply imaginable and ammo as well, plus they'd taken a buttload of damage as well. Eventually they were forced to withdraw to Saudi as well to rearm and re-equip. They fought their asses of though. It's HARD for me to give any kind of credit to Kuwaitis, but these guys damn well earned it.