The number of military pilots in the air forces around the world is changing as fleets shrink and grow. Some nations have expanded greatly in recent years, like the People’s Liberation Army Air Force (PLAAF). Meanwhile, recruiting shortages see others shrinking, like the United States and Russia. Since the fall of the Soviet Union, one fact that has remained constant is that the USA is the undisputed world champion of air power.
The US military has more pilots and aircraft between the US Air Force, Navy, Marines, and Army than the next four members of the top five combined. The closest near-peer adversary to the US Armed Forces would be Russia, but the comparison heavily favors the US. The USAF has a particularly large airlift and tanker fleet, which mans it has the most pilots of any air force in the world, by far.
The Leaderboard: Fleet Sizes
The US Armed Forces being on top by quite a wide margin will not come as a surprise if you are familiar with global defense trends. The Department of Defense (DOD) has four distinct branches that all fall in the top ten by fleet count if even if evaluated independently. One trend is common across all entries on the list of the top five: recruiting and training consistently fall short of the ideal staffing levels authorized by their respective commands. Below is the list of the top five air force rankings by nation:
|
Ranking |
Aircraft Fleet Count |
|---|---|
|
1. USA |
14,486 |
|
2. Russia |
4,211 |
|
3. China |
3,304 |
|
4. India |
2,296 |
|
5. Japan |
1,459 |
This analysis will strive to provide the best estimate possible despite a shortage of publicly published manning numbers, especially by secretive powers such as Russia and China. This analysis will also not consider the highly subjective qualitative aspect of the forces, which sources like World Directory of Modern Military Aircraft (WDMMA) attempt to provide with various ratings. The manpower of these forces follows roughly in line with the numbers of aircraft in their fleets. Some have deeper rosters of aircrew than others relative to the number of airframes.
Four Air Forces In One: The American Aviators
The US Armed Forces has around 37,000 pilots despite shortages across all branches that leave jobs like flying fighter jets unfulfilled. The Air Force has approximatley 13,000 pilots, including those in the Air National Guard and Air Force Reserve. The Navy and Marines have around 10,000 pilots and naval flight officers, while the Army has about 14,000 helicopter pilots.
The US Air Force is unquestionably the largest air power in the world, with over 5,200 military aircraft and almost 330,000 active-duty troops. The staggering force of the US Army, Navy, Marines, and Air Force are individually greater than many nations’ entire military aircraft fleets.
According to the WDMMA, the USAF operates 5,004 aircraft and 400 ICBMs. With a nearly $200 billion budget, it is the world’s largest air force and the second-largest service branch of the Department of Defense (DOD), after the Army.
The US Army Aviation Branch has over 4,000 helicopters, like the CH-47 Chinook, UH-60 Black Hawk, and AH-64 Apache. The Army also has a vast arsenal of small, man-portable, and light drones. Next up is the US Navy combined with the US Marines, which are armed with a total of 3,752 aircraft.
The US Navy fields the world’s largest fleet of bluewater aircraft carriers, with 10 supercarriers in active service. Split between the Nimitz and Ford classes, the fleet of enormous warships has yet to be equaled by any rival or allied navy to date. The F-35B vertical-takeoff-or-landing (VTOL) and F-35C CATOBAR variants joined the fleet in recent years, arming it with fifth-generation stealth fighters.
The Russian Federation: War-Weary Airmen
The Russian Aerospace Forces have around 170,000 personnel, including pilots, ground crew, support staff, and other roles. The branch is part of the larger Russian Armed Forces, which has a total active personnel of around 1.32 million. The total fleet size of 4,211 aircraft allows us to interpret that the force has between 4,000 and 5,000 pilots, assuming sufficiently full rosters to meet average readiness standards.
The VVS has a fleet stocked with iconic names like Sukhoi, Mikoyan-Gurevich, Beriev, Kamov, Mil, Ilyushin, Tupolev, Yakolev, and Antonov. Russia has a large number of military aircraft, including fighters, attack aircraft, and helicopters, such as the Su-27, Su-30, and Su-35 fighters. Pilot training and availability are crucial for maintaining operational readiness, and the Russian military faces challenges in pilot retention and ensuring a sufficient number of qualified pilots to fly its aircraft.
As with all the other major world powers, Russia is pushing fiercely in pursuit of stealth technology innovations, unmanned platforms, and hypersonic weapons technology. The Russian Navy once had ambitions to become a bluewater force to rival the US, but never achieved that dream, instead, its carriers have mostly been sold off. As the National Interest covered earlier this year, the Admiral Kusnetsov is likely never to leave dry dock again. Instead, the VVS has focused on drones in the conflict with Ukraine.
People’s Liberation Army: A Growing Force
The People’s Republic of China (PRC) military is thought to have tens of thousands of pilots, however the precise number is hard to determine. The People’s Liberation Army (PLA), which is part of the PRC military, has a large and grown air force and navy. Sources like the EurAsian Times have reported that the PLA is also increasing its naval aviation capabilities, including the construction of aircraft carriers, which calls for a rise in the number of pilots.
The People’s Liberation Army‘s main aerial combat service is the People’s Liberation Army Air Force (PLAAF), commonly referred to as the Chinese Air Force. The total estimated fleet of the PLAAF is 3,304 military aircraft, according to the WDMMA. The shroud of secrecy surrounding the PLA means that we can only use this figure to estimate a force of about 3,500-4,000 pilots.
The 2024 Zhuhai Air Show in Guangdong, China, was a spotlight for the PLAAF that showed significant strides toward fifth-generation fighter technology, modernized aerial refueling, and jet-powered airlift platforms, as well as new helicopter models and various aircraft equipment.
The PLA Navy (PLAN) also operates one of the few ski-jump carriers in the world, originally receiving its first carrier from the Soviet Union, like India. Its third aircraft carrier, known as Fujian, will be China’s first indigenously designed carrier, and its first capable of catapult-assisted take-offs (CATOBAR), like the French and US navies.
India’s Air Force & Naval Air Arm: Evolving Capability
There is a lack of pilots in the Indian Air Force (IAF) as the authorized strength is 4,239 but there are only 3,834 pilots, according to the Hindustan Times. The IAF uses a variety of aircraft for training, including the Pilatus PC-7 Mk-II, Kiran MkI/IA, and Hawk Mk-132 advanced jet trainer. The Indian Air Force (IAF) has been modernizing its fleet since the late 1990s, with the goal of raising its strength to 42 squadrons.
Roughly 650 pilots strong, the Indian Navy’s (IN) naval air arm welcomed its first female pilot in 2019. It operates 21 air squadrons, with ten operating fixed-wing aircraft, eight helicopter squadrons, and three equipped with unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV). The IN operates one of the few ski-jump aircraft carriers in the world, INS Vikramaditya, which carries over thirty aircraft, including: MiG 29K fighters, Kamov 31, Kamov 28, and Sea Kings helicopters.
The IAF and IN have a famously varied fleet of western, eastern, and domestically produced airframes in their inventory. The fighter range includes: Dassault Rafale and Mirage 2000, HAL Tejas, Sukhoi Su-30MKI, SEPECAT Jaguar, as well as the Mikoyan MiG-29 and MiG-29K. According to Lockheed Martin, they are in negotiations to begin a joint-production variant of the F-16 with domestic assembly lines in India, dubbed the F-21.
Japanese Air Self-Defense Force: Peace Through Deterrence
Airmen and civilian officials make up the estimated 49,913 members of the Japan Air Self-Defense Force (JASDF). The Japan Air Self-Defense Force (JASDF) has a diverse fleet of aircraft, including fighter jets, transport planes, helicopters, and other units for air defense, support, and training. The fleet has a total of 1,459 aircraft according to WDMMA which means we can estimate 2,000 to 2,500 trained pilots and aircrew.
Key fighter aircraft include the Mitsubishi F-15J, Mitsubishi F-2, and Lockheed Martin F-35A Lightning II. The JASDF also operates air refueling and transport aircraft like the 
Boeing KC-767 and Boeing KC-46 Pegasus, as well as various helicopters like the UH-60J Black Hawk. The UH-60J Black Hawk is the primary helicopter used for search and rescue operations.
The JASDF is organized into three commands: the Air Defense Command, Air Support Command, and Air Training Command. The Air Defense Command oversees overall air defense operations, while the Air Support Command supports air strategy, transportation, control, and maintenance. The Air Training Command focuses on the education and training of JASDF personnel. The fleet also includes other aircraft for electronic warfare and maritime patrol.
