Compare armed forces

Alliance builder

Military power of United Kingdom & China and Russia

United Kingdom flag svg China and Russia flag svg

United Kingdom vs China and Russia

Show map
United Kingdom China and Russia

United Kingdom is a country located in Western Europe with an area of 242,495 km2 (land boundries: 499 km and costline 12,429 km). The capital of United Kingdom is London. The number of inhabitants is 67,886,004.

the UK is a member of NATO and was one of the original 12 countries to sign the North Atlantic Treaty in 1949. The UK is also a member of the Five Powers Defense Arrangements reached in 1971 embracing also Australia, Malaysia, New Zealand, Singapore. The inventory of the British military is comprised of a mix of domestically-produced and imported Western weapons systems. The Uunited States is the leading supplier of armaments. United Kingdom defense industry is capable of producing a wide variety of weapons systems and is one of the world's top weapons suppliers.

More about United Kingdom military

A hypothetical military alliance between China and Russia. The two countries share a land border and they signed the Treaty of Good-Neighborliness and Friendly Cooperation in 2001. A twenty-year strategic treaty extended or another 5 years after its expiration in February 2022. China is the world's most populous country, with a population of more than 1.4 billion people, on the other hand Russia is the largest country in the world by area, covering over 17,098,246 square kilometres.

Currently, China focuses on domestic weapon designs and manufacturing, while still importing certain military products from Russia, such as jet engines. In September 2018, Russia hosted the militaries of China and Mongolia as a part of the Vostok 2018 military exercise. Russia and China flew joint bomber patrols over the Pacific. China refused to condemn the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Following the implementation of international sanctions during the war, China provided economic relief to Russia.

If you want to check the comparison in terms of economic ratios check out CompareEconomy.com

Military expenditures

small flag GB GB small flag CHRU CHRU
Military budget: 58.2 billion $ 358.9 billion $
Percent of GDP: 2.2% 0%

Military budget

small flag GB small flag CHRU
Highest value in the world: 816 billion $ (USA)
More

Manpower

small flag GB GB small flag CHRU CHRU
Active personnel: 148,220 3,035,000
Reserve personnel: 37,000 4,000,000
Available for military: 14,856,917 420,586,837

Active

small flag GB small flag CHRU
Highest value in the world: 2,035,000 (China)
More

Land Forces

small flag GB GB small flag CHRU CHRU
Tanks: 286 18,017
Armoured fighting vehicles: 4,644 38,302
Total artillery: 259 25,360
Self-propelled artillery: 89 9,163
Rocket artillery: 44 7,471

Tanks

tank svg
small flag small flag
Highest value in the world: 12,267 (Russia)
More

Air Forces

small flag GB GB small flag CHRU CHRU
Total aircraft: 996 9,048
Fighter aircraft: 157 1,389
Multirole aircraft: 21 1,512
Attack aircraft: 0 809
Helicopters: 359 3,020
UCAV (combat drone): 9 251

Total aircraft

airplane svg
small flag small flag
Highest value in the world: 12,930 (USA)
More

Navy

small flag GB GB small flag CHRU CHRU
Total naval: 74 1,395
Aircraftcarriers: 1 5
Destroyers: 6 52
Frigates: 12 65
Corvettes: 0 153
Submarines: 10 140

Total naval

ship svg
small flag small flag
Highest value in the world: 967 (North Korea)
More

Nuclear weapons

United Kingdom

Third out of fifth nuclear-weapon states that are under the NPT, the treaty of the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons. The first successful test in the nuclear history of Great Britain occurred in October 1952, three years after Russia’s first successful attempt. “Hurricane”, which was the codename for the test assumed the use of 3 megaton bomb, which was dropped in Australia. The UK itself did not have many tests after that. Comparing to a thousand and hundreds of tests by Americans and Russians, the Brits made only 45 tests of nuclear arsenal.

We should remember about the fact that United Kingdom was in a strict cooperation with United States at the very beginning. It means that we cannot forget about the tremendous help the Americans received from the British government and men of science while developing their first nuclear bomb. Unfortunately, all the data that USA could not be sent back to the UK, since the cooperation has ended prematurely. This was one of the reasons why UK developed their first nuclear weapon so late. At this moment, they possess 215 warheads in total, out of which 120 is deployed and completely operational.

China and Russia

Data not available

Military service

United Kingdom

16-33 years of age (officers 17-28) for voluntary military service (with parental consent under 18); no conscription; women serve in military services, but are excluded from ground combat positions and some naval postings; must be citizen of the UK, Commonwealth, or Republic of Ireland; reservists serve a minimum of 3 years, to age 45 or 55; 17 years 6 months of age for voluntary military service by Nepalese citizens in the Brigade of Gurkhas; 16-34 years of age for voluntary military service by Papua New Guinean citizens.

China and Russia

Data not available