UK military firepower: How does it stack up in comparison to other armed forces?
The UK's Armed Forces are made up of regulars and reservists across three services – the Royal Navy, including the Royal Marines, the Army and the Royal Air Force.
There have been historic and annual fluctuations in the size of the inventory and manpower across the Armed Force in both peacetime and in war.
But how does the UK's military compare with other nations in 2024?
We have delved into official statistics, published in the Global Firepower review, to gain a clearer picture.
However, the authors of the review do point out that some of the figures are estimated.
The review concludes the UK is a Top 10 global military power, coming in at sixth place.
The Top 10 Military Powers
1: United States
2: Russia
3: China
4: India
5: South Korea
6: UK
7: Japan
8: Turkey
9: Pakistan
10: Italy
Manpower
The UK ranks 29th out of 145 nations for active personnel – 184,860.
Britain is 8th in the list for reserve personnel numbers – 924,000.
The number of total military personnel in the UK is estimated to be 1,108,860.
Royal Navy personnel numbers total 35,730 (18th), British Army numbers total 106,626 (36th) and there are 34,790 servicemen and women in the RAF (20th).
The UK’s biggest ally, the United States, has 1,328,000 active personnel (3rd), 799,500 reservists (10th), 667,108 US Navy personnel (1st), 1,403,200 US Army personnel (5th) and 701,319 US Air Force personnel (1st).
Russia has 1,320,000 active personnel (5th), 2,000,000 reserve personnel (4th), 160,000 navy personnel (3rd), 550,000 army personnel (9th) and 165,000 air force personnel (4th).
For China, the numbers include 2,035,000 active personnel (1st), 510,000 reserve personnel (14th), 380,000 navy personnel (2nd), 2,545,000 army personnel (1st) and 400,000 air force personnel (2nd).
Naval power
There are 117 naval assets in the UK military (31st).
These include:
Two aircraft carriers (2nd)
Six destroyers (8th)
11 frigates (7th)
10 submarines (11th)
26 patrol vessels (37th)
Nine mine warfare vessels (13th)
The US has 472 naval assets (4th) which includes 11 aircraft carriers (1st), nine helicopter carriers (1st), 75 destroyers (1st), 23 corvettes (4th), 64 submarines (2nd), five patrol vessels (56th) and eight mine warfare vessels (14th).
Russia has 781 naval assets (1st) which include one aircraft carrier (3rd), 14 destroyers (4th), 12 frigates (6th), 83 corvettes (1st), 65 submarines (1st), 122 patrol vessels (8th) and 47 mine warfare vessels (1st).
China has 730 naval assets (2nd), of which two are aircraft carriers (2nd), three are helicopter carriers (3rd), 49 are destroyers (2nd), 42 are frigates (1st), 72 are corvettes (2nd), 61 are submarines (3rd), 150 patrol vessels (5th) and 36 mine warfare vessels (2nd).
Land power
The UK military has:
213 tanks (55th), 170 at readiness
27,203 land vehicles (20th), 21,762 at readiness
71 units of self-propelled artillery (42nd), 57 at readiness
126 units of towed artillery (55th), 101 at readiness
41 units of MLRS (rocket artillery) (52nd), 33 at readiness
The US has 4,657 (5th) tanks, 3,493 at readiness, 360,069 vehicles (1st), 270,052 at readiness, 1,595 units of self-propelled artillery (5th), 1,196 at readiness, 1,267 towed artillery units (14th), 950 at readiness and 694 units of MLRS (rocket artillery) (7th), 521 at readiness.
Russian land power amounts to 14,777 tanks (1st), 10,344 at readiness, 161,382 vehicles (3rd), 112,967 at readiness, 6,208 units of self-propelled artillery (1st), 4,346 at readiness, 8,356 units of towed artillery (1st), 5,849 at readiness and 3,065 units of MLRS (rocket artillery) (2nd), 2,146 at readiness.
China has 5,000 tanks (4th), 4,000 at readiness, 174,300 vehicles (2nd), 139,440 at readiness, 3,850 units of self-propelled artillery (3rd), 3,080 at readiness, 1,434 units of towed artillery (13th), 1,147 at readiness and 3,180 units of MLRS (rocket artillery) (1st), 2,544 at readiness.
Air power
The UK has 664 aircraft in total, 531 of which are at readiness and 15th in rank.
Of these, there are:
120 fighter (20th), 96 at readiness
29 attack (26th), 23 at readiness
31 fixed-wing transport (25th), 25 at readiness
219 trainers (11th), 175 at readiness
26 special-mission (12th), 21 at readiness
Nine tankers (8th), seven at readiness
276 helicopters (15th), 221 at readiness
52 attack helicopters (13th), 42 at readiness
The US has a total of 13,209 aircraft (1st), 9,907 at readiness, 1,854 fighter aircraft (1st), 1,391 at readiness, 896 attack aircraft (1st), 672 at readiness, 957 fixed-wing transport aircraft (1st), 718 at readiness, 2,648 trainers (1st), 1,986 at readiness, 695 special-mission (1st), 521 at readiness, 606 tankers (1st), 455 at readiness, 5,737 helicopters (1st), 4,303 at readiness and1,000 attack helicopters (1st), 750 at readiness.
Russia has 4,255 aircraft (2nd), 2,766 at readiness, 809 fighter aircraft (3rd), 526 at readiness, 730 attack aircraft (2nd), 475 at readiness, 453 fixed-wing transport aircraft (2nd), 294 at readiness, 552 trainers (2nd), 359 at readiness, 145 special-mission (2nd), 94 at readiness, 19 tankers (3rd), 12 at readiness, 1,547 helicopters (2nd), 1,006 at readiness and559 attack helicopters (2nd), 363 at readiness.
China has 3,304 total aircraft (3rd), 2,478 at readiness, 1,207 fighters (2nd), 905 at readiness, 371 attack aircraft (3rd), 278 at readiness, 289 fixed-wing transport aircraft (3rd), 217 at readiness, 402 trainers (5th), 302 at readiness, 112 special-mission (4th), 84 at readiness, 10 tankers (7th), 8 at readiness, 913 helicopters (3rd), 685 at readiness, 281 attack helicopters (3rd), 211 at readiness.
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