The YOGYAKARTA In this article will discuss a comparison of the strengths of the Cambodian and Thai militaries. These two countries are known to have clashed with each other in the disputed border area for weeks since May 2025, where a Cambodian intermediary was killed in a shootout in the clash.
Recently, the escalation of the conflict between Cambodia and Thailand has escalated. On Thursday, July 24, 2025 morning, the Thai military deployed F-16 fighter jets to attack Cambodian military bases.
This action was carried out after Cambodia attacked the remaining areas of the province with the BM-21 Grad rocket system, quoted from Antara.
Both Cambodia and Thailand, both of whom blamed each other for the start of the attack on Thursday morning in the border area known as Zamrud's integer. This area is the Thailand-Kamboja-Laos border with boundaries that have never been agreed upon.
If armed conflict extends and diplomacy does not come to light, the Cambodian-Thailand military has the potential to face each other as enemies.
On paper, Thailand's military power is far superior to Cambodia. The country of Gajah Putih has a power index score (PwrIndx) of 0.4536, ranked 25th globally. Meanwhile, PwrIndx Cambodia is at the level of 2.0752, 95th out of 145 countries.
In more detail, the following is a comparison of the strengths of the Cambodian and Thai militaries based on information compiled by VOI.
In terms of personnel, Cambodia's military power is still far below Thailand. Cambodia's total population is around 17 million people (in the 72nd level), while Thailand is around 70 million people (in the 20th place).
Cambodia is known to have 221,000 active personnel. Meanwhile, Thailand has 360,850 personnel with 200,000 reserve personnel. In this regard, Cambodia reportedly does not have backup personnel.
Furthermore, Cambodia has 10,000 paramilitary troops. Meanwhile, the number of paramilitary troops owned by Thailand reached 25,000 people.
The defense budget allocated by the Cambodian government is at the level of 860 million US dollars (around Rp. 14 trillion). This figure is still below Thailand, whose military budget is 598 billion US dollars (around Rp. 95 trillion).
The Cambodian army is reported to have 644 tanks and 3,627 units of armored vehicles. Cambodia also has 30 units of self-isolation artillery, 430 artillery pull. For the mobile rocket projector, Cambodia is ranked 10th in the world with 463 units.
Meanwhile, Thailand has 635 units of tanks and 16,935 units of armored vehicles. The Thai Army also operates 589 units of attractive artillery and 50 units of self-driving artillery.
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The power of the Cambodian Navy only consists of about 2,800 personnel, including 1,500 Marines, and only has 13 patrol boats and 1 amphibious landing ship.
Unlike Thailand, the White Elephant Country has a large marine fleet with nearly 70,000 personnel, including the Navy's flight division, runners, coastal defense, and military service personnel.
In addition, the Thai Navy also has 1 aircraft carrier, 7 frigates, 68 coastal patrol and combat vessels, amphibious landing vessels with a capacity of hundreds of personnel, UAV Fleet and naval helicopters, as well as active runners as many as 23,000 personnel.
In terms of the air force, the Cambodian military has around 1,500 personnel and only has a limited aircraft inventory covering 10 transport planes and 10 transport helicopters. The country's Thousand Pagodas reportedly did not operate fighter jets, but had 16 multi-play helicopters, such as six Soviet-era Mi-17 and 10 Z-9 China.
Meanwhile, Thailand, referring to the International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS) report, has a very trained air force.
The number of personnel from the Royal Air Force of Thailand is reported to have reached 46.000 personnel. In addition, Thailand also has 112 active fighter aircraft, with details of 28 units of F-16 Fighting Falcon fighter jets, 11 units of Swedish-made Gripen temput jets, and dozens of combat helicopters and UAVs.
If you look at the comparison of the strengths of the Cambodian and Thai militaries, Cambodia does not benefit because its military forces are far below Thailand. Even so, Cambodia does not have a large territorial waters, so it can focus more on the strength of the army.
That's information about the comparison of the strengths of the Cambodian and Thai militaries. Get news updates of other options only on VOI.ID.
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