22 top airforces (based on plane quality and quantity).

[Pak47]

 

[Deno]

My top seven air forces

Note: only frontline and modern aircraft are included in this assessment

1. USAF
- 187 F-22 Raptor
- 500 F/A-18E/F Super Hornet
- 334 F-15E Strike Eagle to be equipped with AESA
- 178 F-15C Eagle to be equipped with AESA

2. Russian Federation Air Force
- 11 Su-35S
- 25 Su-30
- 17 Su-34
- 40 MiG-29M

3. People's Liberation Air Force
- 6+ J-10B
- 6 J-15
- 100 J-11B
- 210 J-10A
- 73 Su-30MKK
- 24 Su-30MK2

4. L'armee de l'air
- 93 Dassault Rafale
- 37 Dassault Mirage-200C-2F

5. Royal Air Force
- 86 Eurofighter Typhoon

6. Royal Saudi Air Force
- 72 Eurofighter Typhoon
- 72 F-15E Strike Eagle
- 109 F-15C Eagle

7. Indian Air Force
- 146 Su-30MKI
- 48 MiG-29UPG
- 9 MiG-29K

I know it doesn't change the numbers but

You added to India Migs and to China J-10s... But didn't add f-16 block 50/52s to US?

 

[Donatello]

well , I really don't care about this article that wrote by a Zionist but IMO those countries who producing their air-craft or their air-craft avionic by themselves are stronger ... for some simple reason ...

a little story :

in Iran-Iraq war , USA gave Iranian F-14 radar's codes to France and France used those codes to equip Iraq's mirage's electronic warfare and in the end , Iranian F-14 couldn't targets those mirages ....

for example :
if a war begin between Saudi Arabia and Israel ( or Greece and Turkiye ), I'm sure Saudi's air craft couldn't take down even one of Israel air craft ...
it is not because their air crafts or their pilots are weak , this is because USA would give Saudi's air-craft radar's codes to Israel ( IMO USA already gave it to Israel )...

that why I believe a simple weapon that you produce in your country is more reliable and more useful compare a modern weapon that you buying from foreign countries ....

I do not know what you mean by giving away the radar codes.............as far as i know...Radars don't really communicate codes....but rather send out pulses of Electromagnetic radiation. If you mean giving out the frequency...then yes. But considering a pulse Doppler radar of 20th Century would hardly be a task to crack and figure out.....most 21st Century EW pods would be able to look up its frequency and inform the pilot that a particular radar is active and in what vicinity.

 

[oct605032048]

You can't just rank air forces, because each has their own purposes, roles, and emphases. There are so many factors that aren't considered here.

Some major factors:
- EW aircraft: for example, the IAI Phalcon and the KJ-2000 might outperform the E-3C simply due to their AESA radar.
- Long range support: in this case US and Italy would have an advantage due to their use of KC-135
- Air to air weaponry: the European Meteor, Chinese PL-21, AIM-120D needs to be mentioned here
- Aircraft technology vs numbers: just because one is larger doesn't mean one is more effective. Egypt should not be ahead of France.

Finally, there are a few notes to keep in mind:
- Of China's 450 Flankers, at least 50 of those are the highly advanced indigenous J-11B which uses powerful engines, radar absorbent material, composites, AESA, MAW, IRST, glass cockpit
- India's Su-30MKI are receiving AESA upgrades as well as more powerful engines
- We are on a point where many air forces are inducting more advanced fighters, such as with China inducing the J-10B, J-15, and India inducting MiG-29K, Russia inducting Su-35S, etc.

There 8 J10 regiments in the service so the number surely should be larger than 200.

 

[FairAndUnbiased]

I'd bump J-8's up to 0.8/0.5, and increase all the 4th gen land based 2 engined planes to at least 1.5 which is very realistic; 2 engined planes often more than double the F-16's range, have higher maneuverability and have more room for a big radar. Range is a very important parameter; the more natural range a plane has the less it has to carry in conformal fuel tanks which increase weight, take up payload and make the plane less maneuverable.

I'd put F-15C as 1.6, F-15E as 1.4/2 (due to 2 pilots and usual A2G flight configuration), Su-27 as 1.4, Rafale/Typhoon/Su-30's all as 1.5, and would not assign any 4th gen single engined plane more than +/- 1 from the F-16.

I'd also downrate the F-18 due to its very low range for a 2 engined plane.

I'd also increase H-6 ranking from 0/1 to 0/3. The H-6 is only going to be used for firing long range cruise missiles with ranges over 1000 km. its just a missile truck so its power depends only on its munitions.

 

[twilight]

I do not know what you mean by giving away the radar codes.............as far as i know...Radars don't really communicate codes....but rather send out pulses of Electromagnetic radiation. If you mean giving out the frequency...then yes. But considering a pulse Doppler radar of 20th Century would hardly be a task to crack and figure out.....most 21st Century EW pods would be able to look up its frequency and inform the pilot that a particular radar is active and in what vicinity.

umm , my english isn't good so I can't explain it clearly .

I can say USA gave France some info ( or codes ) about F-14 radar and after that , our F-14's radar couldn't Lock on Mirages ...

 

[UKBengali]

Right now based on equipment RSAF, InAF and IsAF are very close to each other, competing for 4th place. But India is going to open gap:

MMRCA.
Continues procurement of Su-30MKI.
Modernization of Su-30MKI with AESA radars.
LCA.

5th place maybe taken by Turkey: block 52+, Boeing-737 AEW&C, F-35.

This is my forecast for 2020:

1) USA
2) Russia
3) China
4) India
5) Turkey-Israel-KSA

Later on:

1) USA
2) China
3) Russia
4) India
5) Turkey
6) Israel-KSA

You do know that China's economy is 4 times larger than Russia's and growing twice as fast?

Unless Russia does a Soviet Union and commits 12-14% of GDP to defence till 2020, China will easily surpass Russia to become no 2 by 2020.

Also are you aware that China will most probably become larger GDP-wise than the US by 2017-2018 and still keep growing several times quicker than the US for a decade or more after that?

In the longer term, China will also easily surpass the US to become the mightiest military in the world.

Without a strong economy it is not possible to build and sustain a large military.

 

[Mosamania]

You do know that China's economy is 4 times larger than Russia's and growing twice as fast?

Unless Russia does a Soviet Union and commits 12-14% of GDP to defence till 2020, China will easily surpass Russia to become no 2 by 2020.

Also are you aware that China will most probably become larger GDP-wise than the US by 2017-2018 and still keep growing several times quicker than the US for a decade or more after that?

In the longer term, China will also easily surpass the US to become the mightiest military in the world.

Without a strong economy it is not possible to build and sustain a large military.

It is kind of complicated in that China has more people living in it so the per-Captia is still in favor of the US by them freeing up more money to the military. China will eventually surpass but not by 2020.

 

[Avatar]

This is a good present indicator of Air Force quality and strength around the planet.
Pilot skill does matter but it's much harder to calculate realistically and still combat results can vary due to the situational sensitivity.
These calculations can also be used as a basis for estimating the top air forces in the near future as well, accounting information we already know.

 

[AerospaceEngineer]

I was bored and decided to estimate airforces strength. I wrote down the list of active aircrafts for each air force and then counted score.

Here is method I used. F-16C I used as base: 1 air-air point/1 air to ground point. For other aircrafts my estimates are follow:




China

190 J-10
100 Su-30MKK
189 Su-27 and J-11
180 J-8
280 J-7 (MiG-21)
60 JH-7
180 Q-5
110 H-6 (Tu-16)
AEW&C: 5 KJ-2000, 2 KJ-200
tanker: 8 IL-78, 10 H-6

859/905

This estimate is still subjective does not include personnel quality and UAVs.

Correction. You are using Wikiapedia for Chinese air force. It is not accurate in numbers.

____________________________________________________

1. J-10A (248) Confirmed.
¼ß-10Õ½¶·»ú_°Ù¶È°Ù¿Æ

2. SU-30MKK (98) 2 crashed.

3. J-11A (76+80=156) 76 delievered from Russia, 80 build in China.

4. J-11B (60) Confirmed.
¼ß-11Õ½¶·»ú_°Ù¶È°Ù¿Æ

5. JH-7 (60) Correct, however all JH-7 are upgraded to JH-7A standard.
6. JH-7A ( 140).
¼ßºä-7¡°·É±ª¡±_°Ù¶È°Ù¿Æ


500, you comment is appreciated. However, English sources are NEVER accurate about Chinese military. All the sources I posted are Chinese sources written in Chinese as well. I know you can not read them, but you can see the pictures and tell.

Thank you.

 

[500]

Correction. You are using Wikiapedia for Chinese air force. It is not accurate in numbers.

____________________________________________________

1. J-10A (248) Confirmed.
2. SU-30MKK (98) 2 crashed.
3. J-11A (76+80=156) 76 delievered from Russia, 80 build in China.
4. J-11B (60) Confirmed.
5. JH-7 (60) Correct, however all JH-7 are upgraded to JH-7A standard.
6. JH-7A ( 140).

Thanks for input. If these numbers are correct then we get:

1017/1125 = 3159 points for China.

Now its pretty close to Russia:

1032/1575 = 3639

500, you comment is appreciated. However, English sources are NEVER accurate about Chinese military. All the sources I posted are Chinese sources written in Chinese as well. I know you can not read them, but you can see the pictures and tell.

I think that accurate numbers know only China's top commanders.

But overall:

1) Currently China has #3 air force in the world.
2) China is going to bypass Russia before 2025.
3) If your numbers are correct then it happen even before 2020.

 

[500]

I'd bump J-8's up to 0.8/0.5, and increase all the 4th gen land based 2 engined planes to at least 1.5 which is very realistic; 2 engined planes often more than double the F-16's range, have higher maneuverability and have more room for a big radar. Range is a very important parameter; the more natural range a plane has the less it has to carry in conformal fuel tanks which increase weight, take up payload and make the plane less maneuverable.

I'd put F-15C as 1.6, F-15E as 1.4/2 (due to 2 pilots and usual A2G flight configuration), Su-27 as 1.4, Rafale/Typhoon/Su-30's all as 1.5, and would not assign any 4th gen single engined plane more than +/- 1 from the F-16.

Thanks for reply. Well, F-16 has very good range, comperable to two engine planes. During the attack on reactor in Baghdad 1981 it performed the low level flight at 1100 km range with 2 2000lb bombs.

I'd also downrate the F-18 due to its very low range for a 2 engined plane.

F-18 has nice range too.

I'd also increase H-6 ranking from 0/1 to 0/3. The H-6 is only going to be used for firing long range cruise missiles with ranges over 1000 km. its just a missile truck so its power depends only on its munitions.

What cruise missiles with range over 1000 km does it carry?

 

[Lankan Ranger]

@ 500

Do you remember these jets?

 

[AerospaceEngineer]

Thanks for input. If these numbers are correct then we get:

1017/1125 = 3159 points for China.

Now its pretty close to Russia:

1032/1575 = 3639


I think that accurate numbers know only China's top commanders.

But overall:

1) Currently China has #3 air force in the world.
2) China is going to bypass Russia before 2025.
3) If your numbers are correct then it happen even before 2020.

That is true. My advise is:

1. Never trust any western source regarding Chinese military. Especially Kanwa and Russian source, the only worthy English source is Fisher. For example, right now the Russians are saying that Russsia is gonna "sell" 48 SU-35BM to China, lol. This same bullcrap is said 6 years ago. In 2006, Russia say: " China is gonna buy 50 SU-33, 6 destoryers, and 12 Kilo subs". LOL, did this came true?? NO !!!
2. Always use Chinese sources, Baidu is a good tool, however it is all in Chinese.


Russia still have edges, you must take Air lift capability, and Stratagic Bombing capability. Russia is far ahead, and these two capabilities are VITAL for Air Forces, I would put air lift capability ahead of Air Force's strike capability. The reason is that Chinese Army is FAR superior to the Indian army and can crush the Indian Army in weeks, however, that require logistic support. Right now, Chinese air lift capability is not very outstanging.

Currenty it consits of:
1. 80 Y-8 transports can carry 75 troops with max payload of just 20 tons.
2. 16 IL-76.

This is gonna change very very soon, because Y-20 will first fly later this year. It will have a payload of 62 tons. Also, Y-20 will enable China to truely mass produce KJ-2000 and advanced air refueling tankers. These two are also VITAL for any air forces.

China is also developing an advanced bomber although it is kept at top secret !!!

By 2020, if things go smoothly. China will have:

1. Around 70 Y-20 heavy air lift transport.
2. 5+10=15 KJ-2000.
3. 40 H-6 refuel tanker + 10 Y-20 refuel tankers.



To me, I am much more concer about these developments rather than just have more fighters and strike planes. The strength of a modern airforce is messured by the overall strength rather than just fighters.

You also need to know that, China is very special. China can NOT buy these things from other countries and it must develop them on her own. Where country like Isreal can safely fall on America, China can NOT.


Anyway, your threat is excellent.

 

[FairAndUnbiased]

Thanks for reply. Well, F-16 has very good range, comperable to two engine planes. During the attack on reactor in Baghdad 1981 it performed the low level flight at 1100 km range with 2 2000lb bombs.


F-18 has nice range too.


What cruise missiles with range over 1000 km does it carry?

CJ-10A, air launched 2000 km range rocket powered cruise missile. CJ-10 (missile) - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The F-16 carried conformal fuel tanks, which reduces payload and maneuverability. I'm talking about NATURAL range - filled tank, nothing more. The natural range is 550 km.

General Dynamics F-16 Fighting Falcon - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

In contrast, the natural range of the Su-27 is 3500 km.

Sukhoi Su-27 - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia