Quora Answer: Which Country Punches above Its Weight Militarily & with Its Intelligence Agencies?

The following is my answer to a Quora question: “Which country punches above its size and weight militarily, and with its intelligence agencies?”

There are quite a few countries that punch way beyond their size.  The most famous of which is Israel.  To that, we can add the UK, which although being much diminished since their budget and size, still has an outsized footprint on the world stage.  The Royal Navy is still the standard in fleet movement and engagement.  The only time the USN has ever had fleet engagement of a serious contender was with the IJN during the 2^nd World War.  In contrast, the Royal Navy has been doing it for centuries.  American special forces were modelled after the SAS and other British SF groups, although there has been some divergence due to the technology gap, and differences in doctrine.  The Royal Marines, the SAS, and SBS are still the standard we all look at.

In terms of intelligence, one contender most never consider is the Singapore intelligence services.  Singapore is the sixth eye of the Five Eyes intelligence alliance.  Most of our best work is done outside the country.  The price of our competence in taking care of issues before they become problems is that no one ever hears of these operations.  There will be no movies, no heroes, no public recognition.  That is the way it is supposed to be.

The SAF itself is extremely competent, although understandably secretive.  We have acquitted ourselves in war games with the US 7^th Fleet playing Opfor.  We are one of the few air forces who have demonstrated a consistent ability to take out a US carrier group.  The RSAF is also the only air force, besides Australia, in this region with the capability of extended deployments, including in-flight refuelling capability.  We could bomb Beijing and come back - although that would be extremely stupid.  The Army itself has personnel with combat experience, and regularly deploys to conflict zones to blood officers and men.  The Army SOF made a name for itself with SQ117 hijack.  Before that, they were in the shadows.  Singapore and Israel are the only countries that field the Iron Dome.