Air Forces comparison: United Kingdom vs Israel

United Kingdom operates 673 active military aircraft vs 525 for Israel.

AIRS (Air Inventory Rating of Strength) Index face-off Full ranking →

United KingdomWorld #14 22.6

AIRS Index / 100

Israel leads overall, ahead on 2 of 6 categories

IsraelWorld #11 23.5

151 Combat aircraftweight ×50 · generation 263
259 Helicoptersweight ×10 · era 130
49 Transportweight ×10 13
25 Special missionweight ×8 38
19 UAVsweight ×10 12
170 Trainersweight ×1 69

United Kingdom Israel Bars: weighted contribution to the AIRS Index (airframes × category weight; combat and bombers by generation tier, helicopters by era; the enabler, armament and availability multipliers apply on top) · figures: active airframes at each side's latest inventory year · Methodology

Key figures as of 2026

	United Kingdom	Israel	Ratio
Official name	Royal Air Force	Israeli Air Force
Active aircraft	673	525	🇬🇧 1.3×
Aircraft on order	49	125	🇮🇱 2.6×
Combat aircraft	151	263	🇮🇱 1.7×
Combat share of fleet	22.4 %	50.1 %	🇮🇱 2.2×
Aircraft types in service	24	20	🇬🇧 1.2×
Main supplier	United States · 28 %	United States · 87 %

Show full breakdown · 5 more rowsHide the 5 extra rows

Helicopters	259	130	🇬🇧 2.0×
Transport aircraft	49	13	🇬🇧 3.8×
Special-mission aircraft	25	38	🇮🇱 1.5×
Trainers	170	69	🇬🇧 2.5×
UAVs	19	12	🇬🇧 1.6×