I looked at the most recent figures on the number of fighter jets by country, and it's quite crazy to see the gap. The United States completely dominates with over 13,000 military aircraft, almost three times what Russia has. China ranks third with about 3,500, followed by India and South Korea, which also have impressive fleets.

What surprised me is that the number of fighter jets per country varies greatly depending on the region. You have Pakistan, Turkey, and Egypt also in the top 10, each with between 1,000 and 1,400 aircraft. And then France rounds out the list with about 974 planes.

This is based on the Global Firepower data from early 2026, so it's quite up-to-date. It really shows how military air power is distributed worldwide. Interesting to see that even European countries like France remain well-armed, but far behind the superpowers.