WW3 Risk WatchComparison

Comparison

United States vs Russia

Compare United States and Russia across land, sea, air, nuclear, cyber-space, asymmetry, and alliance depth.

VS
North America

United States

#1 · Global tier one

The benchmark force: global bases, carrier strike groups, strategic lift, and extended deterrence in one package.

Warheads3,700 warheads
Military spend$997B
Composite score92
Active1,328,000
Reserve799,500
Combat aircraft2,800
Major naval assets296
Strategic postureExtended deterrence backed by a global reinforcement architecture.
Defense industryThe largest integrated ecosystem of defense industry, space capability, and intelligence infrastructure.
Combat experienceSustained expeditionary experience and mature multi-domain joint operations.
Carrier strike groupStrategic liftAlliance networkNuclear triad
Eurasia

Russia

#3 · Global tier one

Nuclear deterrence and missile-air defense power remain strong, but the burden of long-war attrition is substantial.

Warheads4,309 warheads
Military spend$149B
Composite score76
Active1,320,000
Reserve1,500,000
Combat aircraft1,100
Major naval assets265
Strategic postureCoercive deterrence that combines nuclear signaling and missile pressure.
Defense industryA durable defense base centered on nuclear, missile, and air-defense systems.
Combat experienceThe long war in Ukraine has accumulated both combat experience and attrition costs.
Nuclear deterrenceAir-defense networkLong-range missilesAsymmetric pressure
Balance of power
United States92Composite score
AdvantageUnited States16 point gap
Russia76Composite score

United States leads on both average score and the number of stronger axes.

Winning axes4 : 2
Biggest gapAlliance
United States score92

Average explanatory score across seven axes

Russia score76

Average explanatory score across seven axes

Axis advantage4 : 2

How many axes each side leads

Largest gapAlliance

United States leads by 60 points

Land

Ability to deploy large ground formations with armor and long-range fires.

Tie
United States
84
Russia
84
Sea

Blue-water operations, carrier and submarine employment, and sea-control capacity.

United States
United States
100
Russia
70
Air

Air superiority, long-range strike, airborne early warning, and airlift capacity.

United States
United States
98
Russia
78
Nuclear

Warhead scale, survivability, and diversity of delivery systems.

Russia
United States
95
Russia
98
More axesHide axes
Cyber & space

Integration of satellites, ISR, electronic warfare, and cyber operations.

United States
United States
95
Russia
76
Asymmetry

Missile saturation, gray-zone activity, irregular warfare, and drone-cyber integration.

Russia
United States
74
Russia
88
Alliance

Alliance depth, overseas basing, reinforcement potential, and long-duration support capacity.

United States
United States
100
Russia
40
Methodology

Warhead counts and military spending use public data, while active and reserve personnel, combat aircraft, major naval assets, defense industry, logistical endurance, and combat experience are used as supporting indicators. Land, sea, air, nuclear, cyber-space, asymmetric, and alliance scores are normalized explanatory metrics on a 100-point scale based on public operating range and force density.

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Connected pages

Global military rankingUnited StatesRussia