MilitaryCompare / Russia vs United Kingdom
Russia vs United Kingdom
Russia ranks #3 and the United Kingdom ranks #5 in the 2026 Military Atlas Index. Russia spends $190B on defense with 1.26M active personnel; the United Kingdom spends $89.0B with 141K.
| Overview | ||
|---|---|---|
| #3 | Global Rank | #5 |
| $190B | Defense Budget | $89.0B |
| 7.5% | Budget % of GDP | 2.4% |
| $2.56T | GDP | $4.00T |
| 143.51M | Population | 69.49M |
| Personnel | ||
| 1.26M | Active Personnel | 141K |
| 1.50M | Reserve Personnel | 70K |
| 569K | Paramilitary | 0 |
| Air | ||
| 4,193 | Military Aircraft | 593 |
| 1,886 | Combat Aircraft | 172 |
| 1,211 | Fighter Jets | 171 |
| 29 | 5th Gen Fighters | 47 |
| 118 | Bombers | 1 |
| 1,532 | Helicopters | 218 |
| 577 | Attack Helicopters | 72 |
| 0 | Military Drones (UAV) | 12 |
| Land | ||
| 3,550 | Main Battle Tanks | 285 |
| 1,958 | Infantry Fighting Vehicles | 526 |
| 4,727 | Armoured Personnel Carriers | 2,750 |
| 2,902 | Artillery Systems | 166 |
| Naval | ||
| 56 | Submarines | 10 |
| 37 | Nuclear Submarines | 10 |
| 1 | Aircraft Carriers | 2 |
| 0 | Helicopter / Amphibious Carriers | 0 |
| Strategic | ||
| 5,420 | Nuclear Warheads | 225 |
| 12 | Ballistic Missile Systems | 1 |
| 5 | ICBM Systems | 0 |
| 7 | Cruise Missile Systems | 2 |
| 3 | Hypersonic Systems | 0 |
| 16,000 km | Longest Missile Range | 12,000 km |
Russia leads in 23 of the 26 measured categories, the United Kingdom in 3. Numbers alone do not decide a war: training, logistics, geography, alliances and nuclear deterrence matter too. A dash means the source publishes no figure.
Sources: CSIS Missile Threat, Federation of American Scientists, IISS Military Balance, Military Atlas Index, SIPRI, Wikipedia, Wikipedia / FlightGlobal, World Bank.