Top ten airforces

SHASH2K2

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I would also like to add that we may have AWACs but I dont think most of our planes are ready to share data with AWACs directly . dont know if plans are underway to improve dataling capability of our planes. we need to concentrate on network centric warfare and then only we can kick a$$ .
 

utubekhiladi

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Israel is the one selling phalcons to India and their own airforce is without AWAC support. Cannot believe that information.
being a small country (in terms of size), they really do not need awacs
 

SHASH2K2

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being a small country (in terms of size), they really do not need awacs
Awacs integreted with fighter planes increase their detection range , track target as well as guide the weapons. Being a smaller country they need Awacs more badly as it will be a great force multiplier. smaller country like Israel can kick a$$ with even smaller number of fighter planes with good Awacs. It saves money as well.
 

ashdoc

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This is the most comprehensive list of best Air force, edited by me.

1. USA by a large mile. 2,132 fighters, data linked with AWACS support.

2. Russia Still potent and spends 80billion dollars on Mil. 1,342 fighters, data linked with AWACS support.

3. China Growing very fast and has a large modernization program and could soon become number 2. 1,300 fighters,data linked with AWACS support.

4. India Also growing moderately, has a big modernization plan and will have the most number of 5th gen aircraft's by 2025. The Mig-29,Mirage-2000,Jags will all be upgraded to modern standards. 890+fighter aircrafts, data linked with AWACS support.

4. France Has one of the largest Mil budgets. 306 fighters data linked with AWACS support.

5. U.K. coupled wit defense cuts so will have to come down. 280 fighters data linked with AWACS support.

6. Royal Saudi Air force, Spends 10% of GDP, Has placed order for 140 Euro Fighters of which 72 already are functional, 540 fighters data linked with 8-AWACS support, bigger than UK and France but Pilot training suspect!

8. Israel Has 408 fighters no AWACS but data linked to ground, The best trained and lethal tactics attested by all nations that do joint Ex.

9. Japan 396 fighters, data linked with AWACS.

10. Pakistan 478 fighters with AEW&C poor data linking capability in most aircraft's.
i think turkey should be in the list , so should be south korea--instead of pakistan and saudi arabia.
 

pmaitra

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i think turkey should be in the list , so should be south korea--instead of pakistan and saudi arabia.
Turkey, yes, by virtue of being in NATO and in constant readiness during, and being at the frontline of, the Cold War; but I agree, why KSA? The latter has hardly any true combat experience although they have made some progress in modernising their force. However, I would definitely put PAF over KSA-AF as well as South Korea, because PAF definitely has more experience (more and recent wars) than KSA or South Korea.
 
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Turkey, yes, by virtue of being in NATO and in constant readiness during and being at the frontline of the Cold War; but why KSA? The latter has hardly any true combat experience although they have have some progress in modernising their force. I would definitely put PAF over KSA-AF.
KSA-AF is also full of mercenary Pakistani pilots, they don't belong on the list their large plane inventory is from ego and prestige issues and good salesmanship by the manufacturers.
 

pmaitra

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KSA-AF is also full of mercenary Pakistani pilots.
Sorry, I actually edited my post, added details and removed some ambiguities.

I agree, Pakistan has mercenary pilots as well as foot soldiers. They offer their people to other countries, such as, but not limited to, KSA, Bahrain, Kosovo etc..
 

ashdoc

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Turkey, yes, by virtue of being in NATO and in constant readiness during, and being at the frontline of, the Cold War; but I agree, why KSA? The latter has hardly any true combat experience although they have made some progress in modernising their force. However, I would definitely put PAF over KSA-AF as well as South Korea, because PAF definitely has more experience (more and recent wars) than KSA or South Korea.
yes , turkey with 240 f-16s cannot be ignored.

south korea air force has 60 f-15 K and 170 f-16s .
 

pmaitra

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What do you mean by--why KSA ??

I am asking it to be removed from the list .
Yeah, I know and I realised that my response was ambiguous so I edited it to make it clear. I agree with you on that point.
 

ashdoc

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KSA-AF is also full of mercenary Pakistani pilots, they don't belong on the list their large plane inventory is from ego and prestige issues and good salesmanship by the manufacturers.
saudi arabia is a case of--have money , will spend......

in any case the planes , even though flown by mercenary pilots , will at least prove to be of some use compared to wasting money on gold plated cars and other fancy stuff , which the saudi royalty does regularly .
 

Godless-Kafir

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France has 430 fighter jets from Rafale, M2000, F1 and SEM. All of them carry PGMS except for half (30) of the F1 which are Recon and the M2000Cs (52) which are air defence soon to be upgraded to M2000-5. There are 348 fighter/bombers carrying PGMs. That is the second best strike fighter force in the world. Compare that to only 123 GR4s and 6 Typhoons that carry bombs for the UK, 129 PGM bombers is weak. There total fighter force is only 200 or so fighter jets depending on where they are at in operational Typhoons. They are cutting them faster than they make them and by 2020, they will only have 107 Typhoon and 40-50 F-35. France will have 220 Rafale F3/4 and 100 M2000-5.

The numbers listed for most of these countries are way overstated. You need to get World Air Forces PDF from the MILICAS database and count them.
Can you provide any source so that i can change it?
 

Godless-Kafir

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i think turkey should be in the list , so should be south korea--instead of pakistan and saudi arabia.
I am not playing favoritism here. Have you gone through Saudi Arabia's defence procurements? They spend 10% of GDP and they are even better than UK and France in quality and quantity, its only their pilot training that caused them to come down in the list.
 

Sabir

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1 USA....
2 Russia
there is lot of competition for third spot but individual technology and kind of war experience they have ..FRANCE IS right choice for third spot over India and china
3 FRANCE
4 India ........... the sukhoi -30mki...,MMRCA ,AMCA, TEJAS AND THE HAL FGFA programs and actual war experience push india at fourth spot
5 CHINA
6 UK
7JAPAN
8 GERMANY
9 SOUTH KOREA/PAKISTAN
10 MALAYSIA.....HAVE SUKHOI30 ,f-18,mig29...small covering area
Your post should have been deleted for this particular line...........are MMRCA,PAK-FA,FGFA in service?
 

Godless-Kafir

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ace009

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This is the only source you need and they update it every year...

World Air Forces 2010 - Pictures & Photos on FlightGlobal Airspace
Interesting - although I find the numbers for PLAAF a little difficult to believe - still, they may be true.
But then, Armand, French AF is number 4 behind China for sure - by numbers alone.

Here would be my list ...

1. USAAF
2. RuAF
3. PLAAF
4. IsAF
5. IAF/ FrAF
7. RAF
8. JapAF
9. KSA
10. SKAF/ RCanAF

Combining airforce size, technology, Pilot training, Combat experience and lastly production power.
 

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