List of countries with overseas military bases

This is a list of countries with overseas military bases.

Background

The establishment of military bases abroad enables a country to project power, e.g. to conduct expeditionary warfare, and thereby to influence events abroad. Depending on their size and infrastructure, they can be used as staging areas or for logistical, communications and intelligence support. Many conflicts throughout modern history have resulted in overseas military bases being established in large numbers by world powers; and these bases have helped the countries that have established them to achieve political and military goals.

The United Kingdom and other colonial powers established overseas military bases in many of their colonies during the First and Second World Wars, where useful, and actively sought rights to facilities where needed for strategic reasons. At one time, the establishment of coaling stations for naval ships was important. During the Cold War, the United States and the Soviet Union established military bases where they could within their respective spheres of influence, and actively sought influence where needed. More recently, the War on Terror has resulted in overseas military bases being established in the Middle East.

Whilst the overall number of overseas military bases has fallen since 1945, the United States, Turkey, the United Kingdom, Russia and France still possess or utilize a substantial number of them. Smaller numbers of overseas military bases are operated by China, Iran, Iraq, India, Italy, Japan, Saudi Arabia, Singapore and the United Arab Emirates.

The United States is the largest operator of military bases abroad, with 38 "named bases" with active duty, national guard, reserve, or civilian personnel as of September 30, 2014. Its largest, in terms of personnel, was Ramstein AB in Germany, with almost 9,200 personnel.

Australia

Bangladesh

China

France

Germany

Greece

India

Iran

Italy

Japan

Netherlands

Pakistan

Russia

Saudi Arabia

Singapore

Turkey

United Arab Emirates

United Kingdom

United States

The United States has military bases in 45 countries and territories, i.e. outside its fifty states and the District of Columbia. Countries with U.S. bases include:

See also

• Power projection

Notes

References

Further reading

• Cooley, A., & Nexon, D. (2013). “The Empire Will Compensate You”: The Structural Dynamics of the U.S. Overseas Basing Network. Perspectives on Politics, 11(4), 1034–1050.
• Vine, David (25 August 2015). Base Nation: How U.S. Military Bases Abroad Harm America and the World. New York: Henry Holt and Company. ISBN 978-1-62779-170-0.