Indian Air Force sixth among best Global Air Power: WDMMA rankings
STC NEWS MONITORING DESK
SRINAGAR, JULY 07 (STC): The Indian Air Force has achieved a significant achievement at the global level and has secured the sixth position in the “Global Air Powers Ranking 2026”. In this ranking, the Indian Air Force has left behind the air forces of China, Japan and Pakistan.
The “Global Air Powers Rankings (2026)” was released by the World Directory of Modern Military Aircraft (WDMMA). Despite its numerical superiority, China’s People’s Liberation Army Air Force was ranked seventh — one position below the IAF.
The IAF was handed a TrueValueRating (TvR) of 69.4, while seventh-ranked China received a TvR of 63.8. The two forces were noted as operating 1,718 and 3,733 units respectively, the rankings claimed.
The chart was led by the US Air Force and US Navy, which were handed TvRs of 242.9 and 142.4, respectively. The Russian Air Force was third with a 114.2 TvR, followed by the US Army (112.6 TvR) and the US Marines (85.3 TvR).
Notably, the World Directory of Military Aircraft (WDMMA) is an online analytical platform that tracks, evaluates and maps the strengths and weaknesses of global military aviation. It is a popular resource material for defence enthusiasts, researchers, and media outlets to compare the air power of different nations.
According to available information, WDMMA’s directory actively tracks tens of thousands of active aircraft across dozens of nations before coming out with its typical TvR metric.
The Global Air Powers Rankings top 10 list goes as follows:
United States Air Force (USA) — TvR: 242.9 | Aircraft Units: 5,004
United States Navy (USA) — TvR: 142.4 | Aircraft Units: 2,504
Russian Air Force (Russia) — TvR: 114.2 | Aircraft Units: 3,677
United States Army (USA) — TvR: 112.6 | Aircraft Units: 4,333
United States Marines (USA) — TvR: 85.3 | Aircraft Units: 1,211
Indian Air Force (India) — TvR: 69.4 | Aircraft Units: 1,716
Chinese Air Force (China) — TvR: 63.8 | Aircraft Rankings/Units: 3,733
Japanese Air Force (Japan) — TvR: 58.1 | Aircraft Units: 756
Israeli Air Force (Israel) — TvR: 56.3 | Aircraft Units: 581
French Air Force (France) — TvR: 55.3 | Aircraft Units: 511
(Straight Talk Communications)
