Russiavs France
On Global Firepower's 2026 index, Russia (#2) holds a narrow edge over France (#6).
- Russia holds 15× as many nuclear warheads.
- Russia fields 13× as many tanks.
- Russia fields 7.3× as many submarines.
Who leads in each area
- People and moneyRussia leads 4 of 4
- Land forcesRussia leads 5 of 5
- Air powerRussia leads 7 of 7
- Naval forcesRussia leads 5 of 7
- Nuclear weaponsRussia leads 2 of 2
Leads count raw numbers in each category. Larger is not always stronger: a modern fleet can beat a bigger, older one.
People and money
Who can be put in uniform, and how much is spent keeping them there.
$190B
Military spending
$68.0B1.32M
Active personnel
264K2M
Reserves
43K250K
Paramilitary
150KSpending is SIPRI's 2025 estimate in US dollars (Russia: 7.5% of GDP; France: 2% of GDP).
Land forces
Armour and artillery: the weight an army can put on the ground.
5,630
Tanks
427127K
Armored vehicles
111K3,603
Self-propelled artillery
745,920
Towed artillery
02,486
Rocket artillery
9Air power
Fixed-wing and rotary aircraft across all branches.
4,237
Total aircraft
974861
Fighters
223698
Attack aircraft
01,643
Helicopters
452556
Attack helicopters
6718
Tankers
15458
Transports
118Naval forces
Hull counts, from carriers down to patrol boats.
747
Total fleet
1661
Aircraft carriers
10
Helicopter carriers
366
Submarines
913
Destroyers
1112
Frigates
579
Corvettes
0Nuclear weapons
Estimated warheads in military stockpiles, January 2026.
4,400
Warheads
2901,796
Deployed warheads
280Compare other countries
Related matchups
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Profiles: Russia and France. Sources: Global Firepower 2026, SIPRI Military Expenditure 2025 (Apr 2026), SIPRI Yearbook 2026: World Nuclear Forces.