Military Power.net

United Kingdomvs United States

On Global Firepower's 2026 index, the United States (#1) holds a solid edge over the United Kingdom (#8).

  • The United States fields 21× as many total aircraft.
  • The United States fields 17× as many fighters.
  • The United States holds 16× as many nuclear warheads.
  1. People and moneyUnited States leads 3 of 4
  2. Land forcesUnited States leads 5 of 5
  3. Air powerUnited States leads 7 of 7
  4. Naval forcesUnited States leads 6 of 7
  5. Nuclear weaponsUnited States 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.

$89.0B
Military spending
$954B
141K
Active personnel
1.33M
32K
Reserves
800K
0
Paramilitary
0

Spending is SIPRI's 2025 estimate in US dollars (United Kingdom: 2.4% of GDP; United States: 3.1% of GDP).

Land forces

Armour and artillery: the weight an army can put on the ground.

288
Tanks
4,666
94K
Armored vehicles
410K
14
Self-propelled artillery
1,521
126
Towed artillery
1,878
43
Rocket artillery
1,731

Air power

Fixed-wing and rotary aircraft across all branches.

625
Total aircraft
13,032
103
Fighters
1,791
38
Attack aircraft
926
262
Helicopters
5,913
50
Attack helicopters
1,024
9
Tankers
610
30
Transports
917

Naval forces

Hull counts, from carriers down to patrol boats.

116
Total fleet
465
2
Aircraft carriers
11
0
Helicopter carriers
9
10
Submarines
66
6
Destroyers
83
7
Frigates
0
0
Corvettes
27

Nuclear weapons

Estimated warheads in military stockpiles, January 2026.

225
Warheads
3,700
120
Deployed warheads
1,770

Compare other countries

Related matchups

Profiles: United Kingdom and United States. Sources: Global Firepower 2026, SIPRI Military Expenditure 2025 (Apr 2026), SIPRI Yearbook 2026: World Nuclear Forces.