Fighter Jets by Country: Who Has the Most Fighters?

Fighters are the aircraft most people picture when they think of air power: fast, agile jets built to win control of the sky. Here is how the fighter fleets of the 24 militaries we track compare, using Global Firepower’s 2026 counts.

Fighter and interceptor aircraft (Global Firepower 2026)

#	Country	Fighters
1	🇺🇸 United States	1,791
2	🇨🇳 China	1,443
3	🇷🇺 Russia	861
4	🇮🇳 India	476
5	🇰🇵 North Korea	341
6	🇵🇰 Pakistan	331
7	🇸🇦 Saudi Arabia	283
8	🇹🇼 Taiwan	258
9	🇰🇷 South Korea	242
10	🇪🇬 Egypt	242
11	🇮🇱 Israel	239
12	🇫🇷 France	223
13	🇯🇵 Japan	217
14	🇹🇷 Turkey	201
15	🇮🇷 Iran	188

The top three

The United States leads with 1,791 fighters. That includes F-15s, F-16s, F/A-18s and the world’s largest fleet of stealth fighters: the F-22 and the F-35, which the US flies across three services.

China is second with 1,443, and closing the gap in quality as well as numbers. Its J-20 stealth fighter is now in widespread service, and older Soviet-derived designs are steadily being replaced by modern Chinese-built jets.

Russia has 861 fighters. Its newest, the Su-57 stealth fighter, has been produced only in small numbers, and the bulk of its fleet is made up of upgraded Su-27 and MiG-29 derivatives such as the Su-30, Su-34 and Su-35.

Big numbers, old jets

North Korea ranks fifth with 341 fighters, but most are Soviet and Chinese types dating back decades, some from the 1950s and 1960s, and many are thought to fly rarely because of fuel shortages. It is a clear case of a headline number overstating real capability.

Pakistan (331) has been modernising quickly with Chinese J-10C and JF-17 fighters alongside its American F-16s. Saudi Arabia (283) flies modern American and European types, including F-15s and Eurofighter Typhoons.

Why counting fighters is tricky

Classification is not consistent. Global Firepower separates “fighters” from “attack” aircraft, and modern multirole jets can fit either category. Australia, for example, shows only 24 fighters in these figures, but it operates around 70 F-35As, which Global Firepower places in its attack-aircraft category. Its true combat fleet is much larger than its fighter count suggests.

Attack aircraft (Global Firepower 2026)

#	Country	Attack aircraft
1	🇺🇸 United States	926
2	🇷🇺 Russia	698
3	🇨🇳 China	371
4	🇮🇳 India	124
5	🇰🇵 North Korea	114
6	🇰🇷 South Korea	98
7	🇵🇰 Pakistan	90
8	🇪🇬 Egypt	90
9	🇸🇦 Saudi Arabia	81
10	🇦🇺 Australia	71
11	🇮🇹 Italy	65
12	🇩🇪 Germany	63

Quality beats quantity

Modern air combat is decided less by numbers than by sensors, missiles, stealth, pilot training and support aircraft. A small number of stealth fighters guided by airborne radar planes can dominate a much larger force of older jets. That is why Israel, with 239 fighters, is widely regarded as one of the most effective air forces in the world.

For a fuller look at entire air fleets, see the largest air forces in the world, or compare two countries directly, such as China vs Taiwan.