ATHENS – Outgunned Greece would, on paper, be no match against Turkey if there’s a conflict with worries rising as Turkey keeps claiming waters in the Aegean and East Mediterranean and no one moving to stop it.

The USA, then Russia, followed by China, India, France, and Japan are the countries ranked with the highest military strength with Greece coming in 28th in the world, according to the latest review by Global Firepower, while Turkey is ninth, based on an index.

The report said Greece spends $6.54 billion for defense while Turkey spends $8.6 billion while Greece has an available manpower of 4,993,347 which accounts for 46.4% of the total population with 4,044,611 or 36.7 percent, fit for service.

The number of Greeks reaching military age annually is just over 100,000, with service compulsory except for some celebrities and the privileged who are able to get out of it. The current active personnel total is 140,000 with 222,000 in reserve.

Greece has a total aircraft strength of 566 aircraft systems ranking it 20th out of 137 countries, with 187 Fighters (ranked 16 of 137), 187 Attack systems (ranked 15 of 137) and 19 transports – fixed wing tactical/strategic aircraft (ranked 37 of 137.)

Turkey has a manpower of 41,847,478 – almost 10 times that of Greece – with 35,151,882 fit for service, although some defense analysts said Greece’s military is better prepared after Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan decimated Turkey of top officers following a failed 2016 coup attempt.

Turkey keeps sending fighter jets into Greek airspace unlawfully, resulting in frequent dogfights against often more experienced Greek fighters.

Turkey also lost a chance to buy more advanced F-35 fighter jets to use against Greek F-16s when Erdogan authorized purchase of a Russian S-400 missile defense system that could compromise NATO, the defense alliance to which both belong.