China and the United States Military Comparison in 2023

By Aarti Dhapte , 09 February, 2023

China's liberation army has become large and transformed itself from a large force into a capable modern military over the past two decades. Although China lags behind the United States regarding operational skills and military hardware, it has also improved relative capabilities in many areas.

China has the second largest air force in the world after the United States, which has the most significant air force strength. According to reports, the U.S. operates 10,000 more air platforms than China. In the Total aircraft strength count, China is listed as serving 3,260 aircraft, whereas the United States reported using 13,233 aircraft.

China aims to achieve Global Domination by 2049 by pursuing large-scale military modernization and force-size expansion, science and technology, and advances in new weapons areas such as hypersonic, as per the data. China lacks tankers when compared to the U.S., where the U.S. Air Force tanker has 625 aircraft, and China has only three tankers. Regarding helicopters, reports state that China has only 902 helicopters, whereas the U.S. has a 5,400-plus helicopter fleet.

Reports say China's people liberation army Air Force is developing a new tanker variant of its C-130 and C-17 like the Y-20 Cargo plane. It will help significantly to expand the tanker fleet and improve the nation's power.

The Chinese are installing a thrust-vectoring nozzle and adding up with an F-22-like "supercruise" ability with the installation of indigenous WS-15 engines, as revealed by the Pentagon's 2021 reports.

Ultimately, more enhancements are needed to rival the U.S. truly. Still, China now operates the world's largest Navy with an active-duty combat force of more than 2 million people, twice the size of the United States.