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 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 the existence of bases abroad has served countries having them in achieving political and military goals. The British Empire 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, establishing 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, France and Iran still possess or utilize a substantial number. Smaller numbers of overseas military bases are operated by India, Italy, Singapore and the United Arab Emirates.
The United States is the largest operator of military bases abroad, with 38 "named bases" having 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

The Indian Armed Forces, including Special Forces of India, operate several bases and stations:
This list is incomplete.