India vs China: Military strength comparison

The latest round of border standoff between two Asian superpowers, India and China has again raised the tension in the region. Land forces of two countries have ramped up their defences along the Line of actual control with both sides accusing each other of trespassing. As the tensions between the world's two largest standing Army has increased, China's intimidation is work in progress. 

Let us compare the military strength of the two nations

Army

Being World's largest standing Army, India has around 1.2 million active personnel, 4,426 combat tanks, 290 self-propelled artillery, 7,414 towered artillery, 6,704 armoured fighting vehicles and 290 rocket projectors. In comparison, China which recently downsized its ground forces in order to focus more on its Navy and Airforce has reduced its Army strength by half. The present strength is around 1 million active troops. Its firepower includes 6,457 combat tanks, 4,788 armoured fighting vehicles, 1,710 self-propelled artillery, 6,246 towered artillery and 1,770 rocket projectors.

Navy

With an eye to becoming a global power, China has greatly ramped up its naval forces in recent times. Presently it has 714 vessels, with one aircraft carrier, 51 frigates, 35 destroyers, 35 corvettes, 68 submarines, 220 patrol craft and 51 mini warfare vessels. On the other hand, the Indian Navy has 295 vessels 14 frigates, 11 destroyers, 23 corvettes, 15 submarines, 139 patrol craft and six mini warfare vessels. Moreover, India also has one aircraft carrier.

Air Force

The Indian Airforce has the strength of around 2100 aircraft including 676 fighter aircraft, 809 attack aircraft, 857 transporters, 323 trainer aircraft and 666 helicopters out of which 16 are attack helicopters. In comparison, the People's Liberation Army Air Force has a strength of 2,955, with 1,271 fighter aircraft, 1,385 attack aircraft, 782 transporters, 352 trainer aircraft, 912 helicopters out of which 206 are attack helicopters.

Nuclear stockpile

As per estimates, China has a stockpile of 270 nuclear warheads with its Intercontinental ballistic missiles having the capability of hitting targets up to 15,000 km. To be precise, it has at least 90 ICBMs out of which 66 are land-based and 24 are submarine-based. India's nuclear warheads is almost half the size of China's 130 warheads. It has a capacity to hit a target up to 6000 km with Agni-V.