10 Strongest Air Forces of the World

[Armand2REP]

@Armand2REP,

If you were to list top 10 AFs, Where do you place the AFs mentioned in this thread ? Any Additions or Deletions from the list in discussion ?

1) US
2) Russia
3) France
4) Israel
5) India
6) UK
7) China
8) UAE
9) Korea
10) Japan

 

[kseeker]

1) US
2) Russia
3) France
4) Israel
5) India
6) UK
7) China
8) UAE
9) Korea
10) Japan

UAE @ no # 8 ?

 

[Tolaha]

1) US
2) Russia
3) France
4) Israel
5) India
6) UK
7) China
8) UAE
9) Korea
10) Japan

@Armand2REP,
You sure US and Russian air force are better than that of France?

 

[Armand2REP]

In terms of aircraft numbers maybe the Russian Air Force is second to USAF. But in terms of experience, especially modern air-to-air combat the Russians will not hold even against the Israelis. The RAF and ALA have more experience than the Russians in this field. And in actual war a lot of the countries listed are not going to operate separately. NATO countries will always operate as a unit around USAF within NATO in cases of major wars. Their combined aerial capabilities and experience bring the issue of who has the strongest Air Force to an insignificant trivia. Russia and China do not come close.

If you pit VVS against IDF, the Israelis will lose by attrition. MiG-31 can stand-off and take pot-shots at F-15s and F-16s all day and there isn't a thing they could do about it. Couple that with the nuclear attack Blackjacks can bring and Israel will burn to ashes. Russia has a tiered pilot system and they have enough experienced pilots to equal the small Israeli cadre and plenty more back-ups. There is only so much quality can do against such overwhelming odds. This is not 1960s Egypt we are talking about.

 

[Armand2REP]

UAE @ no # 8 ?

It is the largest force outside of the US with AESA radar and good support aircraft. Not to mention trained by the best French instructors.

 

[p2prada]

If that's what you want then you need to be at the level of the Israelis...

The Israelis are overhyped. They are nowhere near the Americans. Just look at the kind of support assets the Americans can deploy.

The Israelis can't even induct the Phalcons class aircraft that they themselves developed. They had to settle for something smaller.

The Israelis did fight against overwhelming odds in the past, but the situation would have been different had the Arabs entered the fight with Su-27s and Mig-29s instead of Mig-21s and Mig-23s, at the very least Soviet standard Mig-21s and -23s. The Israelis had horrendously outclassed the Arabs in the technology front. Whenever the Israelis came into the fight with older technology equivalent or slightly better than the Arabs had, they were more or less a match.

 

[rock127]

See in quote comments.

Yeah, the Russian aircrafts numbers are wrong.

How come anyone can make this gross mistake?

 

[badguy2000]

top3 are india air force, taiwan and s.korea. india has the future. taiwan control the current situation. all the past glory belongs to s.korea

 

[kseeker]

top3 are india air force, taiwan and s.korea. india has the future. taiwan control the current situation. all the past glory belongs to s.korea

Wow !

What about PRC ?

 

[jmj_overlord]

UAE @ no # 8 ?

same here, why UAE i think ?

 

[Waffen SS]

@kseeker

Strongest air force, best Army, best weapon, best tank etc depend on personal preference very much. How Australian air force can be above of Japanese self defense air force? Apart from F/A 18 Hornet and F/A 18 Super Hornet what do they have as fighter? What about South Korean Air force which has 60 F 15K, 44 F 16 and 68 F 4 Phantom and 170 F 5 Freedom Fighter?

In theory Saudi Arab air force looks a formidable air force, agree with @SajeevJino but Arabs are not expert in Modern Warfare, that's why Arabs were continuously defeated by Israel.

When German, British and French air force are well trained but they are small compared to China, India, US or Russia, this also needs to be counted.

 

[HMS Astute]

Hahahaha...Israel,Uk,France??

Israel has like 500 combat aircrafts , Uk and France have about 210 each.

India alone has 700+ Combat aircrafts.

Didn expect this list at DFI.

What matters is not the size of the dog in the fight, but the size of the fight in the dog!

 

[HMS Astute]

1) US
2) Russia
3) France
4) Israel
5) India
6) UK
7) China
8) UAE
9) Korea
10) Japan

UK has the biggest air force and navy in EU and 2nd in NATO after the United States. UK operates more Typhoon than France operates Rafale, we have more AWACS aircraft, more advanced refuelling tanker aircraft, bigger and more capable transport planes like C17 Globe Master lll which you always have to borrow from us whenever you want to transport your military kits to Africa and other continents. Let alone the battle tactics, communication system, strategy, training, skills, experience and professionalism of our world known pilots.

 

[jmj_overlord]

australian air force in top 10....i thought south korean airforce would be included in the list

 

[HMS Astute]

The Israelis are overhyped. They are nowhere near the Americans. Just look at the kind of support assets the Americans can deploy.

The Israelis can't even induct the Phalcons class aircraft that they themselves developed. They had to settle for something smaller.

The Israelis did fight against overwhelming odds in the past, but the situation would have been different had the Arabs entered the fight with Su-27s and Mig-29s instead of Mig-21s and Mig-23s, at the very least Soviet standard Mig-21s and -23s. The Israelis had horrendously outclassed the Arabs in the technology front. Whenever the Israelis came into the fight with older technology equivalent or slightly better than the Arabs had, they were more or less a match.

quite, and in fact isreal can't fight outside of it's backyard. doubt it would last long if it went to war against countries like turkey, saudi arabia or even iran.

 

[p2prada]

quite, and in fact isreal can't fight outside of it's backyard. doubt it would last long if it went to war against countries like turkey, saudi arabia or even iran.

The Israelis are not an expeditionary force. That's a waste of money. Only the Americans can really afford that today. Even the European countries can only move a small force around, not large armies like the Americans can.

 

[HMS Astute]

The Israelis are not an expeditionary force. That's a waste of money. Only the Americans can really afford that today. Even the European countries can only move a small force around, not large armies like the Americans can.

the sole military strength of israel is from it's air force only, the rest of it's armed forces (navies, army etc) are just inadequate. i'd rank indian air force at least at 5th or 4th any day of the year.

 

[p2prada]

the sole military strength of israel is from it's air force only, the rest of it's armed forces (navies, army etc) are just inadequate. i'd rank indian air force at least at 5th or 4th any day of the year.

Their navy is very small. They can't afford that. Their army is pretty good, though not at the level their air force is at.

I wouldn't rate IAF anywhere in that list. Check post #24 for my view.

 

[HMS Astute]

Their navy is very small. They can't afford that. Their army is pretty good, though not at the level their air force is at.

I wouldn't rate IAF anywhere in that list. Check post #24 for my view.

thought so.

i have no idea about the capability of indian air force although i always tend to put it top 5, and would like to know how it is compared to say france or the uk when it comes to technology, transport planes, refuelling tankers, awaws aircraft, other support units, training, skills, flying hours, and experience of pilots as well.

 

[p2prada]

thought so.

i have no idea about the capability of indian air force although i always tend to put it top 5, and would like to know how it is compared to say france or the uk when it comes to technology, transport planes, refuelling tankers, awaws aircraft, other support units, training, skills, flying hours, and experience of pilots as well.

Drab and dull. We are doing what we can based on our budget. We have barely enough for all our missions. We are aiming for 40+ fighter squadrons but we are not comfortable right now since a lot of the Migs need to go. We should achieve minimum strength only by 2020, for a two front war with China and Pak.

We have too many old aircraft right now. Our only major fighter induction in the last 25 years was the MKI. LCA is delayed, MRCA is delayed and the upgrade program of Jaguar is delayed. We are set at the high end for the next 10 years, but our low end is nowhere to be seen.

When it comes to transport planes, we are in a pretty good position. We have a dozen IL-76s, ordered a dozen more C-17s and plan to get over 60 medium transports like the IL-214 and C-130J. We have a tender out for light transport aircraft as well.

Refueler tender has been delayed a lot. We have 6 today (IL-78MKI) and plan to get 6 more (A330) in the near future with 6 more as options. It is quite small if you consider the number of fighter squadrons we have. I don't know what's the optimum number to have but what we have today isn't enough.

AEW&C aircraft numbers are dismal. We have just 3 Phalcons flying today and 2 more are on order. The two indigenous programs will take some time to deliver, with numbers approaching adequate levels in the next 5 or 6 years. We plan to operate at least 30-40 of these aircraft.

Experience and flying time is top notch in the IAF. Even the old Mig-21s do over 200 sorties a year, 20 a month. That's more than what UK pilots do on the Typhoons. MKI pilots fly much more than the Mig pilots. We have plenty of 2000+ hour pilots. Many of them are above 5000 hours.

Training is in a dangerous position because of the delays in the induction of the AJT and IJT. At least IAF pushed for the induction of the basic trainer. In a year we may not have an IJT. Today we are good after having inducted the AJT and BLT.

When it comes to technology, we are 5 to 10 years behind the UK and France today, but by 2025 we should be at par or ahead ahead in all capabilities, once all the deals being worked on today start delivering. More so because we have planned big stuff while UK and France are cutting down. When it comes to sheer numbers we are better than UK and France today, but that is not going to be enough against China.