Canada — analysis of the armed forces

What the inventory on record could form, man and sustain, by published norms — the same engine and the same figures as the Analysis tab of the interactive map. Models of what the equipment allows, not the real order of battle, training or readiness.

15.3brigade-eq5.4 squadron-eq

155%manning62,300 on strength

7%O&S share$37.5B · 2025

3.5strength indexinventory only, 0–100

combat categories documented 11 of 17·support categories documented 3 of 7·norms table 2026-10-19·About the method ↗

7 types without a published quantity — counted as 1 unit (lower bound) in the index and coverage

data for Live War: 71 % — missing: ship cells 2, cruise-missile family 1, artillery rounds 1 About the method ↗

An armoured force with no ground-based air defence on record
Rear categories not documented in open sources (4 of 7) — support figures are a lower bound

Rings

CF-18 Hornet — 540 km · with tankers 810 kmF/A-18 Hornet — 537 km · with tankers 806 km

Rings from the border: from any point of the territory the system reaches this far — the markers on the map stand in formation, not at bases, so the rings are never drawn from them. Dashed: with tanker aircraft on record (radius × 1.5). Combat radius as the source gives it; a plain published range is divided by three (helicopters: halved).

One battery of the longest-range system of every tier, placed at the centre of the country: solid = engagement range at altitude, dashed = against low-flying targets (radar horizon ≈ 36 km). The share of the territory all the batteries could cover is in the Air-defence coverage section below.

Rings off.

Force structure i

Inventory: a 15-brigade army, a 5-squadron combat air force and a navy of 12 major surface combatants and 4 submarines.

formation · what it means	equivalents
Tank battalion-equivalents`82 tanks ÷ 36`·3 companies of 10–14 tanks; light tanks at half weight derived	2.3
Mechanised battalion-equivalents`1,309 carriers ÷ 30`·3 companies × 10 IFV / APC sourced	43.6
Motorised (protected mobility) battalion-equivalents`527 vehicles ÷ 30`·3 companies × 10 MRAP / protected 4×4; not added to brigade-equivalents derived	17.6
Manoeuvre brigade-equivalents`45.9 battalion-eq ÷ 3`·3 manoeuvre battalions (tank + mechanised) per brigade sourced	15.3
Division-equivalents`15.3 brigade-eq ÷ 3`·3 brigades per division sourced	5.1
Artillery battalion-equivalents`163 guns ÷ 18`·3 batteries × 6 guns, self-propelled and towed sourced	9.1
Mortar battery-equivalents`100 mortars ÷ 6`·6 mortars per manoeuvre battalion sourced	16.7
Transport-helicopter battalion-equivalents`143 helicopters ÷ 30`·30 helicopters per assault battalion (US Army) sourced	4.8
Fighter squadron-equivalents`98 aircraft ÷ 18`·18 fighter / attack aircraft per squadron (NATO 12–24) derived	5.4
Transport squadron-eq`52 aircraft ÷ 9`·9 aircraft per squadron (placeholder: half a fighter squadron) assumption	5.8
Tanker squadron-eq`5 aircraft ÷ 9`·9 aircraft per squadron (placeholder: half a fighter squadron) assumption	0.6
UAV squadron-eq`19 aircraft ÷ 9`·9 aircraft per squadron (placeholder: half a fighter squadron)·18 small tactical / loitering drones not counted assumption	2.1

Not on record: rocket artillery, long / medium-range SAM, short-range SAM, attack helicopters, bombers, AEW&C

naval class	hulls	crews needed
major surface combatants	12	1,800
submarines	4	200
patrol vessels	17	228

Formation equivalents by published tables of organisation — an estimate of what the inventory could form, not the actual order of battle.

Manning & readiness i

Personnel needed to man the inventory: 40,221 (crews 12,063 / maintainers 13,075 / support 15,083)·on strength: 62,300·manning 155%·the force is infantry-heavy or much equipment is in storage

group	units	availability	effective fleet
Land	10,093	70% assumption	7,065
Air	468	65% sourced	304
Sea	33	36% sourced	12

Effective fleet is shown next to the nominal count, never instead of it. Support coefficient 0.6 derived

Air-defence coverage i

No surface-to-air system with a documented engagement range on record.

Territory area from the outline: 9,650,706 km²·overlap factor assumption·radar horizon derived

Strike reach i

system	km
CF-18 HornetFTR·combat range as published·with tankers ≈ 810 km	540
F/A-18 HornetFTR·combat radius·with tankers ≈ 806 km	537

rings for the 2 longest-range systems (at most 2 per kind)

Budget realism i

Inventory value11 of 82 types priced·2% of units covered	$5.28B
Annual budgetSIPRI 2025	$37.5B
Operation & support / year7% of budget·benchmark O&M 40%·incl. +18% for equipment families·O&S from estimated unit prices for 69 types	$2.69B
Personnel cost / yearassumed cost per service member $120K (model tier: high, fitted to the budget)·20% of budget·benchmark 22%	$7.48B
Implied procurement sharebenchmark 20% (NATO ≥ 20%)	73%
Years to re-buy the inventoryinventory value ÷ (budget × procurement share)	0.2

Support equipment not documented (MED, C3, CBRN, EOD)·figures are a lower bound

Budget structure compared with US FY2025 / NATO guideline shares; national accounting differs — read as an order of magnitude. Cost-per-service-member tiers derived

World standing i

Active personneltop 60% (15th of 25 documented countries)	62,300
Main battle tankstop 82% (18th of 22 documented countries)	82
Infantry carriers (IFV + APC)top 54% (13th of 24 documented countries)	1,309
Artillery (SP + towed + MLRS)top 71% (17th of 24 documented countries)	163
Combat aircrafttop 55% (12th of 22 documented countries)	98
Helicopters (all)top 48% (12th of 25 documented countries)	143
Major surface combatantstop 43% (6th of 14 documented countries)	12
Submarinestop 92% (11th of 12 documented countries)	4
Military budgettop 38% (9th of 24 documented countries)	$37.5B

Closest inventories: Norway (7,708 units, 92% similar), Czechia (7,307 units, 90% similar), United Kingdom (21,559 units, 89% similar)

Inventory Strength Index i

3.5of 100

Land4.3

Air2.4

Sea4.3

Air defence & missiles0

Enablers6.7

Transparent index: published weights × counts, normalised to the leading documented country per block; quality factor 1 for every type until stage 2; mass categories on a square-root scale above 100 units. It measures inventory, not training, doctrine, readiness or will — like every such index. Weights assumption mass rule assumption

Fleet age i

category	type entered service	older than 30 y	past life by 2036
Radar Systems2 of 2 types with a year few types·AN/PPS-5C MSTAR 1991 … EL/M-2084 STAR 2010	1992	95%	100% (25 y)
Fighter Aircraft2 of 2 types with a year few types·CF-18 Hornet 1982 … F/A-18 Hornet 1983	1982	100%	100% (35 y)
Transport Helicopters1 of 1 types with a year few types·Boeing CH-47 Chinook 1962	1962	100%	100% (25 y)
Submarines1 of 1 types with a year few types·Victoria class 2000	2000	0%	100% (33 y)
Frigates1 of 1 types with a year few types·Halifax class 1992	1992	100%	100% (30 y)

Year the type entered service, not the airframes: fleets built long after the type's debut (Mi-8, F-16, Tu-95) look older here than they are.·Service life by category low-confidence source

Open Canada on the map Equipment list of Canada About the method

Figures are static: they are rendered at build time from the same data as the map and change with every data update. Norms, sources and statuses: the method page.