How many military bases does the United States maintain around the world. Pl. give the source for your answer

Question

K Marx, Is that your best GUESS? What is your source.

Thanks to all who did their homework and research. The huge number of US military installations around the globe gives credence to the claim the we are indeed an empire in the truest sense of the term.

Answer 1

From 2003: "Currently, the United States has upwards of 700 military bases at home and abroad. But chances are that the number of bases/places will exceed 1,000 by this decade's end, and most of the new ones will be established abroad"


Hard to say what the real number is-also some lists with no total.
Check out the US Joint Forces Command, Central Command,
European Command, Pacific Command, Southern Command, all of which have many, many bases...

http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/facility/index.html

Answer 2

Overseas

As of 2003, the United States occupied military bases in 130 different countries.[8] Some of the largest contingents are:
Germany 69,395
Japan (United States Forces Japan) 47,000
South Korea (United States Forces Korea) 32,744
Italy 12,258
United Kingdom 11,093

As of mid- 2006, nearly 150,000 U.S. troops are currently deployed in the Middle East.[citation needed] Most of these forces are currently engaged in Operation Enduring Freedom in Afghanistan, and Operation Iraqi Freedom in Iraq.

Answer 3

At present there is a listening post at Pine Gap in the middle of Australia, a jointly manned over the horizon radar station in northern Western Australia and it was recently reported in the media that the U.S plans to build another base in the remote north of Western Australia.

Answer 4

You can add up all the numbers in the DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE BASE STRUCTURE REPORT (A Summary of DoD's Real Property Inventory) for FY 05 at the link below.

"The Department of Defense is one of the world’s largest “landlords” with a physical plant consisting of more than 571,900 facilities (buildings, structures and utilities) located on more than 3,740 sites, on nearly 30 million acres."

Of course, this is report only counts land and facilities openly owned or leased by the DoD, and does not include any sites to which the DoD has rights through basing agreements, nor does it account for any classified activities or covert intel presence.

Hey - just for fun - that 30 million acres of DoD presence? That's equal to about half the space taken up by all US urban areas. Quite a bit of land they control, eh?

Answer 5

730 something. There was a guy on CSPAN booknotes talking about that very thing today. Sorry I didn't catch his name :(

He also said that the number folks know of is very low (like the guy above) compared to the ACTUAL number, which includes embassys, and military presence in areas not classified as bases.

Answer 6

about 25

Answer 7

About 315 major bases. Some have been slated for/may have already been closed.

There are many smaller bases. For example, there's about 100 in Iraq alone.