China — 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.

193brigade-eq122 squadron-eq

265%manning2,035,000 on strength

14%O&S share$336B · 2025

76.5strength indexinventory only, 0–100

combat categories documented 16 of 17·support categories documented 6 of 7·norms table 2026-10-19·About the method ↗

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

data for Live War: 67 % — missing: ship cells 20, interceptor stock 10, missile stock 7, quantity 4, combat radius 2, generation 2, missile range 2, drone stock 1, storage 1 About the method ↗

Rings

Dongfeng DF-26 — 4,000 kmDF-100 — 4,000 kmChengdu J-20 — 2,000 km · with tankers 3,000 kmXian H-6 — 1,998 km · with tankers 2,997 kmChanghe Z-10 — 400 km

S-400 — 400 km · low-flying targets 36 km · 136 batteries on recordHQ-12 — 50 km · low-flying targets 36 km · 66.7 batteries on recordHQ-6 — 18 km · 207 batteries on record

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 193-brigade army, a 122-squadron combat air force and a navy of 122 major surface combatants and 71 submarines.

formation · what it means	equivalents
Tank battalion-equivalents`3,962 tanks ÷ 36`·3 companies of 10–14 tanks; light tanks at half weight derived	110
Mechanised battalion-equivalents`14,044 carriers ÷ 30`·3 companies × 10 IFV / APC sourced	468
Motorised (protected mobility) battalion-equivalents`13,110 vehicles ÷ 30`·3 companies × 10 MRAP / protected 4×4; not added to brigade-equivalents derived	437
Manoeuvre brigade-equivalents`578 battalion-eq ÷ 3`·3 manoeuvre battalions (tank + mechanised) per brigade sourced	193
Division-equivalents`193 brigade-eq ÷ 3`·3 brigades per division sourced	64.2
Artillery battalion-equivalents`5,910 guns ÷ 18`·3 batteries × 6 guns, self-propelled and towed sourced	328
Rocket-artillery battalion-equivalents`1,604 launchers ÷ 18`·3 batteries × 6 launchers derived	89.1
Mortar battery-equivalents`1,670 mortars ÷ 6`·6 mortars per manoeuvre battalion sourced	278
SAM battalion-equivalents`540 launchers ÷ family norms`·HQ-9 292 ÷ 8·S-300 216 ÷ 12·S-400 32 ÷ 8 sourced	58.5
SAM battery-equivalents`1,358 launchers ÷ family norms`·other 1,204 ÷ 4 (fallback)·S-75 130 ÷ 6·Tor 24 ÷ 4 derived	329
Attack-helicopter battalion-equivalents`342 helicopters ÷ 24`·24 helicopters per attack battalion (US Army) sourced	14.3
Transport-helicopter battalion-equivalents`960 helicopters ÷ 30`·30 helicopters per assault battalion (US Army) sourced	32
Fighter squadron-equivalents`2,197 aircraft ÷ 18`·18 fighter / attack aircraft per squadron (NATO 12–24) derived	122
Bomber squadron-eq`122 aircraft ÷ 9`·9 aircraft per squadron (placeholder: half a fighter squadron) assumption	13.6
Transport squadron-eq`280 aircraft ÷ 9`·9 aircraft per squadron (placeholder: half a fighter squadron) assumption	31.1
Tanker squadron-eq`57 aircraft ÷ 9`·9 aircraft per squadron (placeholder: half a fighter squadron) assumption	6.3
AEW&C squadron-eq`90 aircraft ÷ 9`·9 aircraft per squadron (placeholder: half a fighter squadron) assumption	10
UAV squadron-eq`226 aircraft ÷ 9`·9 aircraft per squadron (placeholder: half a fighter squadron)·55 small tactical / loitering drones not counted assumption	25.1

naval class	hulls	crews needed
aircraft carriers	3	9,000
major surface combatants	122	27,600
corvettes & fast attack craft	151	6,525
submarines	71	3,550
amphibious	355	12,730
patrol vessels	465	3,616
mine warfare	46	2,300
auxiliaries	180	10,800

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: 768,613 (crews 225,756 / maintainers 254,627 / support 288,230)·on strength: 2,035,000·manning 265%·the force is infantry-heavy or much equipment is in storage

group	units	availability	effective fleet
Land	48,414	70% assumption	33,890
Air	5,621	65% sourced	3,654
Sea	1,400	36% sourced	504

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

Air-defence coverage i

tier	at altitude	vs low-flying
Long-range (100 km and more)136 batteries·S-400 400 km, S-300 195 km, HQ-22 170 km, HQ-9 120 km	79%	3%
Medium-range (30–100 km)66.7 batteries·HQ-12 50 km, HQ-16 40 km	3%	2%
Short-range (under 30 km)207 batteries·HQ-6 18 km, HQ-7 15 km, HQ-17 15 km, 9K331 Tor-M1 12 km …	0.7%	0.7%

Long-range SAM could cover ~79% of the territory at altitude, ~3% against low-flying targets·Medium-range SAM could cover ~3% of the territory at altitude, ~2% against low-flying targets·Short-range SAM could cover ~0.7% of the territory at altitude, ~0.7% against low-flying targets·all tiers against low-flying targets: up to ~6%

point defence: 1,288 launchers / guns (AAG, SPAAG)

Territory area from the outline: 9,355,327 km²·overlap factor assumption·radar horizon derived

Strike reach i

system	km
Dongfeng DF-41BMS·missile range	15,000
Dongfeng DF-5BMS·missile range	15,000
Dongfeng DF-31BMS·missile range	8,000
Dongfeng DF-26BMS·missile range	4,000
DF-100GLCM·missile range	4,000
Dongfeng DF-17BMS·missile range	2,500
Chengdu J-20FTR·combat range as published·with tankers ≈ 3,000 km	2,000
Xian H-6BMB·≈ ⅓ of the published range·with tankers ≈ 2,997 km	1,998
Dongfeng DF-21BMS·missile range	1,770
Shenyang J-15FTR·combat range as published·with tankers ≈ 1,905 km	1,270
Shenyang J-35 / J-35AFTR·combat radius·with tankers ≈ 1,875 km	1,250
Chengdu J-10FTR·combat range as published·with tankers ≈ 1,860 km	1,240

13 more systems with a documented range

3 systems with a range beyond 5,000 km — intercontinental reach, listed but not drawn

rings for the 5 longest-range systems (at most 2 per kind)·5 strike types without a documented range

Budget realism i

Inventory value20 of 326 types priced·13% of units covered	$170B
Annual budgetSIPRI 2025	$336B
Operation & support / year14% of budget·benchmark O&M 40%·incl. +30% for equipment families·O&S from estimated unit prices for 303 types	$47.7B
Personnel cost / yearassumed cost per service member $45K (model tier: mid, fitted to the budget)·27% of budget·benchmark 22%	$91.6B
Implied procurement sharebenchmark 20% (NATO ≥ 20%)	59%
Years to re-buy the inventoryinventory value ÷ (budget × procurement share)	0.9

Support equipment not documented (LOG, ENG, 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 4% (1st of 25 documented countries)	2,035,000
Main battle tankstop 5% (1st of 22 documented countries)	3,762
Infantry carriers (IFV + APC)top 4% (1st of 24 documented countries)	14,044
Artillery (SP + towed + MLRS)top 4% (1st of 24 documented countries)	7,514
SAM launchers / systemstop 10% (2nd of 20 documented countries)	1,628
Combat aircrafttop 9% (2nd of 22 documented countries)	2,319
Helicopters (all)top 12% (3rd of 25 documented countries)	1,302
Major surface combatantstop 7% (1st of 14 documented countries)	122
Submarinestop 8% (1st of 12 documented countries)	71
Military budgettop 8% (2nd of 24 documented countries)	$336B

Closest inventories: Azerbaijan (4,683 units, 87% similar), United Arab Emirates (10,527 units, 87% similar), Egypt (53,942 units, 84% similar)

Inventory Strength Index i

76.5of 100

Land100

Air43.7

Sea93.1

Air defence & missiles78

Enablers67.7

Nuclear warheads: 620 (SIPRI; not part of the index)

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
Multiple Launch Rocket Systems2 of 8 types with a year few types·PHL-03 2004 … PHL-16 2019	2012	0%	47% (30 y)
Anti-Tank Missile Carriers2 of 3 types with a year few types·AFT-8 1985 … AFT-10 2011	1990	82%	82% (25 y)
Ballistic Missile Systems6 of 6 types with a year·Dongfeng DF-5 1981 … Dongfeng DF-17 2019	2012	9%	28% (25 y)
Ground-Launched Cruise Missile Systems1 of 1 types with a year few types·DF-100 2019	2019	0%	0% (25 y)
Surface-to-Air Missile Systems8 of 10 types with a year·S-300 1978 … HQ-22 2019	2003	19%	41% (30 y)
Gun-Missile Air Defense Systems1 of 1 types with a year few types·PGZ-95 1999	1999	0%	100% (30 y)
Bombers1 of 1 types with a year few types·Xian H-6 1959	1959	100%	100% (45 y)
Fighter Aircraft10 of 10 types with a year·Shenyang J-8 1980 … Shenyang J-35 / J-35A 2025	2006	13%	28% (35 y)
Attack Aircraft1 of 1 types with a year few types·Xian JH-7 1994	1994	100%	100% (35 y)
AEW&C Aircraft5 of 7 types with a year·Kamov Ka-31 1995 … Changhe Z-18 2018	2007	23%	23% (35 y)
Attack Helicopters2 of 3 types with a year few types·Changhe Z-10 2009 … Harbin Z-19 2012	2010	0%	64% (25 y)
Transport Helicopters7 of 8 types with a year·Aérospatiale SA 321 Super Frelon 1966 … Changhe Z-18 2018	1986	97%	98% (25 y)
Aircraft Carriers3 of 3 types with a year·Type 001 Liaoning 2012 … Type 003 Fujian 2025	2019	0%	0% (50 y)
Submarines7 of 8 types with a year·Type 035 (Ming class) 1974 … Type 032 (Qing class) 2012	1999	14%	41% (33 y)
Destroyers8 of 8 types with a year·Type 052 (Luhu class) 1994 … Type 055 (Renhai class) 2020	2012	3%	11% (35 y)
Frigates6 of 6 types with a year·Type 053H1 (Jianghu II class) 1982 … Type 054B (Jiangkai III class) 2025	2006	5%	20% (30 y)
Corvettes1 of 1 types with a year few types·Type 056 (Jiangdao class) 2013	2013	0%	0% (30 y)
Fast Attack Craft1 of 4 types with a year few types·Type 022 (Houbei class) 2004	2004	0%	100% (25 y)
Amphibious Assault Ships1 of 1 types with a year few types·Type 075 (Yushen class) 2021	2021	0%	0% (40 y)
Landing Ships4 of 9 types with a year·Type 072II (Yukan class) 1993 … Type 071 (Yuzhao class) 2007	2001	39%	39% (35 y)
Mine Warfare Vessels4 of 5 types with a year·Type 010 (T43 class) 1950 … Type 081 (Wochi class) 2007	2001	20%	44% (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 China on the map Equipment list of China 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.