{"id":1877,"date":"2014-05-19T11:46:29","date_gmt":"2014-05-19T11:46:29","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.migflug.com\/jetflights\/?p=1877"},"modified":"2026-06-26T12:42:45","modified_gmt":"2026-06-26T10:42:45","slug":"usaf-and-russian-air-force-a-comparison","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/migflug.com\/jetflights\/usaf-and-russian-air-force-a-comparison\/","title":{"rendered":"USAF and Russian Air Force &#8211; A Comparison"},"content":{"rendered":"<h2>USAF and RuAF Fleet strength<\/h2>\nLet\u2019s start with some heroic (and perhaps slightly biased) videos from both sides. The American video is further down.\n\n<div style=\"position:relative;padding-bottom:56.25%;height:0;overflow:hidden;margin:20px 0;\"><iframe style=\"position:absolute;top:0;left:0;width:100%;height:100%;border:0;\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/fcRmbOXvDU4\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/div>\n\nThe US Air Force has been regarded as the world\u2019s supreme air force since the end of the Second World War, but with increased American spending in the Middle East and a significantly growing Russian military budget over the past two decades, how do these air forces compare? In this article, we will examine the two largest air forces in the world: USAF and Russia's Air Force!\n<div dir=\"ltr\">\n<table><colgroup> <col width=\"220\" \/> <col width=\"197\" \/> <col width=\"208\" \/><\/colgroup>\n<tbody>\n<tr>\n<td>\n<p dir=\"ltr\"><strong>Air force<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/td>\n<td>\n<p dir=\"ltr\"><strong>United States<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/td>\n<td>\n<p dir=\"ltr\"><strong>Russia<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>\n<p dir=\"ltr\"><strong>Fixed wing aircraft<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/td>\n<td>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">5414<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<td>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">2176<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>\n<p dir=\"ltr\"><em>Fighters\/Multiroles<\/em><\/p>\n<\/td>\n<td>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">1840<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<td>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">1319<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>\n<p dir=\"ltr\"><em>Bombers<\/em><\/p>\n<\/td>\n<td>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">162<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<td>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">181<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>\n<p dir=\"ltr\"><em>Early warning (radar aircraft)<\/em><\/p>\n<\/td>\n<td>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">52<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<td>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">21<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>\n<p dir=\"ltr\"><em>Transport<\/em><\/p>\n<\/td>\n<td>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">805<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<td>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">255<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>\n<p dir=\"ltr\"><em>Tankers<\/em><\/p>\n<\/td>\n<td>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">476<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<td>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">23<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>\n<p dir=\"ltr\"><em>Trainers<\/em><\/p>\n<\/td>\n<td>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">1193<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<td>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">263<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>\n<p dir=\"ltr\"><em>Additional<\/em><\/p>\n<\/td>\n<td>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">886<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<td>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">114<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>\n<p dir=\"ltr\"><strong>Rotary wing aircraft<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/td>\n<td>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">218<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<td>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">885<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>\n<p dir=\"ltr\"><em>Attack<\/em><\/p>\n<\/td>\n<td>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">0<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<td>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">412<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>\n<p dir=\"ltr\"><em>Search and rescue<\/em><\/p>\n<\/td>\n<td>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">103<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<td>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">0<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>\n<p dir=\"ltr\"><strong>Additional<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/td>\n<td>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">115<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<td>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">473<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<\/div>\n(Notice: The table only shows vehicles of the Air Force. Navy, Army etc not included, to read about the air forces of all of these departments, read this article: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.migflug.com\/jetflights\/us-and-russian-military-aircraft-full-comparison.html\">US and Russian military aircraft \u00a0- full comparison<\/a>)\n\n<div style=\"position:relative;padding-bottom:56.25%;height:0;overflow:hidden;margin:20px 0;\"><iframe style=\"position:absolute;top:0;left:0;width:100%;height:100%;border:0;\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/fcRmbOXvDU4\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/div>\n<h1><em>US and Russia defence spending<\/em><\/h1>\nNow, what can we deduce from the table? Well, first of all, we can obviously see that the US has more aircraft overall, actually more than double the amount of Russia. But why is there such a huge difference? One of the reasons is the military budget. To show this I have here a graph showing the military spending of Russia and the US over the last 22 years. <img data-opt-id=1917845573  fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/lh5.googleusercontent.com\/7kJ79yB2SybjD4pldvs7d9MvADEzoExaHI_lcZ2mfk__qTjWrvreonUCFyUDEXcahUITAxA81QTTasYDQcVTNpyE7Bqc8NIaWcuMEIE7mQhlLDAhNUOPQBSBxIS9fF_U8g\" alt=\"\" width=\"482px;\" height=\"290px;\" \/>Even though the graph does not exclusively show the air forces' spending it does show the amount of money that the US and Russia have spent on their military the last couple of years. This gives us an understanding of how much more money the US military budget consists of and is a vital ingredient to why their air force is the biggest one in the world.\n<h1><em>The real differences in strength<\/em><\/h1>\n<div id=\"attachment_3626\" style=\"width: 310px\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\"><img data-opt-id=87484244  fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-3626\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-3626\" src=\"https:\/\/ml5psubhxdln.i.optimole.com\/cb:0e0_.b970\/w:300\/h:154\/q:mauto\/ig:avif\/https:\/\/migflug.com\/jetflights\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2014\/05\/B-2-Spirit.jpg\" alt=\"B-2 Spirit\" width=\"300\" height=\"154\" srcset=\"https:\/\/ml5psubhxdln.i.optimole.com\/cb:0e0_.b970\/w:300\/h:154\/q:mauto\/ig:avif\/https:\/\/migflug.com\/jetflights\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2014\/05\/B-2-Spirit.jpg 300w, https:\/\/ml5psubhxdln.i.optimole.com\/cb:0e0_.b970\/w:768\/h:394\/q:mauto\/ig:avif\/https:\/\/migflug.com\/jetflights\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2014\/05\/B-2-Spirit.jpg 768w, https:\/\/ml5psubhxdln.i.optimole.com\/cb:0e0_.b970\/w:1024\/h:526\/q:mauto\/ig:avif\/https:\/\/migflug.com\/jetflights\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2014\/05\/B-2-Spirit.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/ml5psubhxdln.i.optimole.com\/cb:0e0_.b970\/w:1080\/h:555\/q:mauto\/ig:avif\/https:\/\/migflug.com\/jetflights\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2014\/05\/B-2-Spirit.jpg 1080w, https:\/\/ml5psubhxdln.i.optimole.com\/cb:0e0_.b970\/w:1920\/h:986\/q:mauto\/ig:avif\/https:\/\/migflug.com\/jetflights\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2014\/05\/B-2-Spirit.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><p id=\"caption-attachment-3626\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">B-2 Spirit<\/p><\/div>\n\nBut even though the United States spends more money on its air force than Russia there are a lot of things to contrast between the two. For instance, the fact that Russia has more bombers than the US is rather interesting. One of the main reasons for this is that Russia has many old bombers still in service that are cheap, instead of spending their money on new, costly projects to create the \"bombers of tomorrow\". Russia\u2019s main bombers are still the Tupolev 95(Introduced in 1956), Tupolev 160 (introduced in 1981) and the Tupolev 22M (introduced in 1972). Even though many of them have been upgraded since they came in service, the cost can not be compared to both the development cost as well as the unit cost of some of the extreme US projects like the Northrop Grumman B-2 Spirit bomber. As an example, the unit cost of a Tupolev 160 is about $40mill while the one of the Northrop Grumman B-2 is over $2 billion each (unit cost USD 737m - total program cost as of 2004 USD 44.75b with only 21 aircraft produced).\n\n&nbsp;\n\nThe same principle applies to fighters, where the US truly flexes its muscles by having not only more but also more expensive jet fighters than Russia has. The most recent US multirole fighter is the Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightning II (first flight 2006) and the Russian is the Sukhoi-35 (2008). While the cost of the F-35 is around $125 mill, the Su-35 only cost $50 mill. So the fact that the USAF has more expensive and at the same time almost the double amount of jets than Russia has, could explain why the United State\u2019s military budget is so comparatively high See the table below for more details on the different concepts behind these air forces.\n\nEarly Warning aircraft, or as many call it \u201cEyes in the sky\u201d are aircraft with the capability to scan the area around itself looking for incoming aircraft, like a mobile radar station. Since permanent radar stations exist on the ground, early warning aircraft are primarily (almost) used with aircraft carriers and amphibious warfare ships. Because the US has 19 aircraft carriers compared to Russia\u2019s only one, and 31 amphibious warfare ships in contrast to Russia\u2019s two there is an obvious reason to why the US's need of AEWACs is much greater than Russia's currently is.\n\nTransports and tankers are used by all nations, but they are obviously not used as much if the country uses a big part of its military force as a defence as if it operates a lot in another country or on another continent. Because the US maintains a world-spanning network of military bases, protects trade routes worldwide and with the operations in Afghanistan and Iraq, they need to transport their troops and supplies great distances, which is why they have such a bigger number of transports and tankers than Russia has.\n\nTrainers are used as can be easily figured to train pilots. There is basically only one reason why the US Air Force has so many more training aeroplanes: the extreme amount of personnel. The Russian air force has approximately 140 000 persons involved at the moment, while the USAF has almost 700 000! This means that the latter has to train a lot more persons and therefore needs a lot more training jets.\n\n<div id=\"attachment_3627\" style=\"width: 310px\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\"><img data-opt-id=1937139363  data-opt-src=\"https:\/\/ml5psubhxdln.i.optimole.com\/cb:0e0_.b970\/w:300\/h:218\/q:mauto\/ig:avif\/https:\/\/migflug.com\/jetflights\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2014\/05\/The-Russian-Mi-Mil-26-lifting-a-Boeing-CH-47-Chinook..jpg\"  decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-3627\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-3627\" src=\"data:image/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20viewBox%3D%220%200%20300%20218%22%20width%3D%22300%22%20height%3D%22218%22%20xmlns%3D%22http%3A%2F%2Fwww.w3.org%2F2000%2Fsvg%22%3E%3Crect%20width%3D%22300%22%20height%3D%22218%22%20fill%3D%22transparent%22%2F%3E%3C%2Fsvg%3E\" alt=\"The Russian Mi Mil 26 lifting a Boeing CH-47 Chinook.\" width=\"300\" height=\"218\" old-srcset=\"https:\/\/ml5psubhxdln.i.optimole.com\/cb:0e0_.b970\/w:300\/h:218\/q:mauto\/ig:avif\/https:\/\/migflug.com\/jetflights\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2014\/05\/The-Russian-Mi-Mil-26-lifting-a-Boeing-CH-47-Chinook..jpg 300w, https:\/\/ml5psubhxdln.i.optimole.com\/cb:0e0_.b970\/w:550\/h:400\/q:mauto\/ig:avif\/https:\/\/migflug.com\/jetflights\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2014\/05\/The-Russian-Mi-Mil-26-lifting-a-Boeing-CH-47-Chinook..jpg 550w\" \/><p id=\"caption-attachment-3627\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">The Russian Mi Mil 26 lifting a Boeing CH-47 Chinook.<\/p><\/div>\n\nWhen we now come to the rotary wing aircraft the reason to why the two countries have such big differences are mainly two things. The first one is that the United States use most of their helicopters as a part of the navy\/army and the second one is that Russia has put much more effort and money in their helicopter business which is proven for instance by the world's heaviest lifting helicopter - the Russian Mi Mil 26.\n\nNow to conclude this comparison there are some things that are needed to be said. The USAF spend such enormous amounts on their military each year that it is almost impossible to compare it with another country. But since Russia has the second greatest air force in the world there can be some conclusions drawn of how the air forces compare to each other as can be seen above. The USAF\u2019s approach is to develop fewer but more expensive aircraft, while Russia focuses on producing larger numbers of more affordable ones, just like Josef Stalin's famous quote (some say it was actually used by Lenin before):\n<blockquote>Quantity has a quality all its own.<\/blockquote>\nThis comparison is not meant to determine the \u201cbest\u201d air force but rather to highlight what the countries have spent their money and time on and how this has shaped them into what they are today, and how surprisingly different they are upon closer examination.\n\n<strong>Additional Resources:<\/strong>\n<ul>\n \t<li>Nice article about\u00a0<a title=\"The most expensive military aircraft\" href=\"https:\/\/www.migflug.com\/jetflights\/the-most-expensive-military-aircraft.html\">the cost of military aircraft<\/a><\/li>\n \t<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.migflug.com\/jetflights\/us-and-russian-military-aircraft-full-comparison.html\">US and Russian military aircraft - Full Comparison<\/a><\/li>\n \t<li><a title=\"Mikoyan Design Bureau Fighter Jets\" href=\"https:\/\/www.migflug.com\/jetflights\/mikoyan-design-bureau-fighter-jets.html\">Mikoyan fighter jets<\/a>\u00a0\u2013 the backbones of the Russian Air Force<\/li>\n \t<li><a title=\"Fifth generation fighter jets \u2013 A Chinese, Russian and US arms race.\" href=\"https:\/\/www.migflug.com\/jetflights\/fifth-generation-fighter-jets-a-chinese-russian-and-us-arms-race.html\">5th generation fighter jets<\/a>\u00a0\u2013 US, Russia and China<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<strong>Sources: <\/strong>\n<ul>\n \t<li>World Wide Aircraft Carriers\u00a0(information acquired 18\/5-2014)<\/li>\n \t<li>Sipri.com\u00a0(information acquired 18\/5-2014)<\/li>\n \t<li>IISS 2010, p. 225 (information acquired 18\/5-2014)<\/li>\n \t<li>Newsland.ru. Retrieved 2014-02-12 (information acquired 19\/5-2014)<\/li>\n \t<li>World Air Forces 2014 December 5, 2013, Flightglobal.com (information acquired 19\/5-2014)<\/li>\n \t<li>http:\/\/wiki.baloogancampaign.com (information acquired 19\/5-2014)<\/li>\n \t<li>Air Force Magazine, May 2012\u00a0(information acquired 19\/5-2014)<\/li>\n \t<li>\"B-2 Spirit.\" United States Air Force.\u00a0(information acquired 19\/5-2014)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<strong>Picture sources: <\/strong>\n<ul>\n \t<li>Defesabr.com.\u00a0(information acquired 19\/5-2014)<\/li>\n \t<li>Af.mil.\u00a0(information acquired 19\/5-2014)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n<!-- mf-faq -->\n\n<div class=\"mf-faq-block\"><style>.mf-faq-block{margin:34px 0}.mf-faq-item:not([open]) .mf-faq-answer{display:none !important}.mf-faq-block h2.mf-faq-h{padding-top:22px;margin-bottom:14px}.mf-faq-item{border:1px solid #e2e8f5;border-radius:8px;margin:0 0 10px;background:#fff}.mf-faq-item summary{list-style:none;cursor:pointer;padding:15px 50px 15px 18px;font-weight:600;color:#1a1a1a;position:relative;line-height:1.45;user-select:none}.mf-faq-item summary::-webkit-details-marker{display:none}.mf-faq-item summary::after{content:\"+\";position:absolute;right:18px;top:50%;transform:translateY(-50%);font-size:1.5em;font-weight:400;color:#5C91FF;line-height:1}.mf-faq-item[open] summary::after{content:\"\\2013\"}.mf-faq-item[open] summary{border-bottom:1px solid #eef1f8}.mf-faq-item summary:hover{background:#f5f8ff}.mf-faq-answer{padding:14px 18px;color:#333;line-height:1.6}.mf-faq-answer p{margin:0}.mf-faq-answer a{color:#5C91FF}<\/style><h2 class=\"mf-faq-h\">Related Questions<\/h2><details class=\"mf-faq-item\"><summary>Which country has the largest air force in the world?<\/summary><div class=\"mf-faq-answer\"><p>The United States Air Force is the largest and is widely regarded as the most powerful air force in the world. In this comparison the USAF fielded around 5,414 fixed-wing aircraft, more than double Russia's roughly 2,176, including far more fighters, transports, tankers and trainers.<\/p><\/div><\/details><details class=\"mf-faq-item\"><summary>How does the US Air Force compare to Russia's?<\/summary><div class=\"mf-faq-answer\"><p>The USAF holds a large numerical edge in fixed-wing aircraft, with about 1,840 fighters and multirole jets to Russia's 1,319, and big leads in transports, tankers and trainers. Russia, by contrast, fields many more attack helicopters within its air force.<\/p><\/div><\/details><details class=\"mf-faq-item\"><summary>Why is the US Air Force so much bigger than Russia's?<\/summary><div class=\"mf-faq-answer\"><p>The main reason is budget. US military spending has consistently dwarfed Russia's over recent decades, funding far more aircraft, support fleets and training. That spending gap is a key reason the USAF maintains its size and technological edge.<\/p><\/div><\/details><details class=\"mf-faq-item\"><summary>How expensive are the aircraft these air forces fly?<\/summary><div class=\"mf-faq-answer\"><p>Modern combat aircraft are extraordinarily costly. The most expensive of all is the B-2 stealth bomber. See our breakdown of <a href=\"https:\/\/migflug.com\/jetflights\/the-most-expensive-military-aircraft\/\">the most expensive military aircraft<\/a> and a list of the <a href=\"https:\/\/migflug.com\/jetflights\/the-10-fastest-aircraft-in-the-world\/\">fastest aircraft in the world<\/a>.<\/p><\/div><\/details><\/div>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@type\":\"FAQPage\",\"mainEntity\":[{\"@type\":\"Question\",\"name\":\"Which country has the largest air force in the world?\",\"acceptedAnswer\":{\"@type\":\"Answer\",\"text\":\"The United States Air Force is the largest and is widely regarded as the most powerful air force in the world. In this comparison the USAF fielded around 5,414 fixed-wing aircraft, more than double Russia's roughly 2,176, including far more fighters, transports, tankers and trainers.\"}},{\"@type\":\"Question\",\"name\":\"How does the US Air Force compare to Russia's?\",\"acceptedAnswer\":{\"@type\":\"Answer\",\"text\":\"The USAF holds a large numerical edge in fixed-wing aircraft, with about 1,840 fighters and multirole jets to Russia's 1,319, and big leads in transports, tankers and trainers. Russia, by contrast, fields many more attack helicopters within its air force.\"}},{\"@type\":\"Question\",\"name\":\"Why is the US Air Force so much bigger than Russia's?\",\"acceptedAnswer\":{\"@type\":\"Answer\",\"text\":\"The main reason is budget. US military spending has consistently dwarfed Russia's over recent decades, funding far more aircraft, support fleets and training. That spending gap is a key reason the USAF maintains its size and technological edge.\"}},{\"@type\":\"Question\",\"name\":\"How expensive are the aircraft these air forces fly?\",\"acceptedAnswer\":{\"@type\":\"Answer\",\"text\":\"Modern combat aircraft are extraordinarily costly. The most expensive of all is the B-2 stealth bomber. See our breakdown of <a href=\\\"https:\/\/migflug.com\/jetflights\/the-most-expensive-military-aircraft\/\\\">the most expensive military aircraft<\/a> and a list of the <a href=\\\"https:\/\/migflug.com\/jetflights\/the-10-fastest-aircraft-in-the-world\/\\\">fastest aircraft in the world<\/a>.\"}}]}<\/script><!-- \/mf-faq -->","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>USAF and RuAF Fleet strength Let\u2019s start with some heroic (and perhaps slightly biased) videos from both sides. The American video is further down. The US Air Force has been regarded as the world\u2019s supreme air force since the end of the Second World War, but with increased American spending in the Middle East and [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1882,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"editor_notices":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[665,7,666,664,16,20],"tags":[45,127,259,319,340,349,419,469,521,581,585],"class_list":["post-1877","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-aviation-world","category-fighter-jets","category-history-and-legends","category-military-aviation","category-stealth-fighter-jets","category-world-records-aviation","tag-air-force","tag-comparison","tag-grumman","tag-lockheed","tag-martin","tag-mig","tag-northrop","tag-russian","tag-sukhoi","tag-us","tag-usaf"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.9 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>USAF vs Russian Air Force - A Fleet Comparison<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"How does the US Air Force compare to the Russian Air Force? 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