The 10 most powerful air forces in the world, compared to a clarifying graphic

From the Combat Aviation Large in the World War I and the improvement in the Second World Waraerial supremacy has been one of the objectives of the countries that most invest in the military arm. Air control is crucial, and in recent years we have seen that some of the most tense incidents among nations (Of those who have not finished at war, of course) have had heaven as protagonists.

With the era of hypertecnological aircraft, those that have advanced furtive abilities and, Above all, dronesthe Air Force is a key strategic factor in the current geopolitics. And in this graph prepared by Visual Capitalist We can see what are the most powerful air forces in the world.

Were there doubts? With base data of Global Firepowerwe can see how the United States, to anyone’s surprise, is the nation that has the most aircraft. A total of 13,209, far from a Russia with 4,255 ships and a China that holds about 3,304. The American domain is overwhelming, and outside the podium, we see that the rest of the countries maintain a balance in their air forces.

Potpourri. Now, not all the ships shown in the graph are combat fighters. Of those 13,209 United States aircraft, 1,854 are combat aircraft (which is more than the complete fleet of most countries, on the other hand), 3,722 are support planes and 5,737 are helicopters. To compare, Russia has 609 support planes, 809 fighters and 1,554 helicopters, although the total amount can vary due to its losses from the beginning of the Ukraine War.

Number vs. Equipment. Now, something important is that the air war would not be won by the one that has the most ships. In this issue, we must leave the United States out of the equation due not only to the number of vehicles, but also the country that invests the most money in its military arm.

It is estimated that the North American country Invest More than 800,000 million dollars in defense, far from the 252,000 million of China, the 72,900 of India or, even, the 63,000 million annually that Japan planned to invest from 2023 to 2027 for Modernize your forces. Because this, as we say, is important.

Returning to the Air Forces, the Japanese country is modernizing its fleet with advanced aircraft such as F-15 and F-2. South Korea or the United Kingdom are also in That modernization point And Russia, which invests 61,7 billion dollars in defense, has the second most numerous fleet, yes, but full of outdated equipment.

China in Mach 3. And in this game of numbers and investment, it must also be taken into account that countries do not show all their letters. It is evident that the United States would have no problem in declaring the total number of aircraft due to the huge military muscle it has, but China has been investing a lot and in full military growth that makes it complicated to know, really, how many aircraft it has.

The Asian giant is burning money on airplanes, specifically in Advanced fighters such as the J-20, the J-15T and the J-34a, but it is also known that it is developing nuclear submarines, Heavy helicopters, latest generation aircraft carriersadvanced furtive aircraft and other types of military assets. Not to mention the progress in development of nuclear headsan aggressive advance that seeks to close the military gap with other powers.

In the end, it is a balance between the number of forces and their generation, but despite efforts of other powers, the United States still does not have a rival, since only its military expense represents 40% of world military spending. And, of course, he is also advancing by leaps and bounds in New generation aircraft.

In Xataka | The countries that most and less money invest in NATO beyond the US, gathered in this graphic