The United States
With military bases in many parts of the world, the US armed forces remain the most powerful of any on the globe.
And a significant level of their spending does not appear "on the public books." Overall, in terms of resources, the U.S. has an advantage, but it is not as overwhelming as it appears. In terms of simple numbers of warships, China is already leading the U.S., roughly 350 to 300, in combat vessels.
1. The US Navy SEALs is arguably the top special operations force. Created in 1962, the Sea-Air-Land operators go through years of training and, especially after 9/11, endure an incredible operation tempo. Many foreign militaries base their special ops on the SEALs.
The US dominates the air with far more bases, fighter jets and bombers than Russia but Russia is superior on the ground with more tanks, artillery and land vehicles. At sea, the countries are more evenly matched, but here the US has the edge with more destroyers, submarines and aircraft carriers.
1. Russia — 6,500 nuclear warheads, 1,600 of which have been deployed. In 2018, Russia was in possession of roughly 6,850 nuclear warheads.
Nine countries possess nuclear weapons: the United States, Russia, France, China, the United Kingdom, Pakistan, India, Israel, and North Korea. In total, the global nuclear stockpile is close to 13,000 weapons.
Russia possesses the world's greatest nuclear arsenal, according to most estimates. Putin possessed 6,255 nukes as of late 2021, according to the Stockholm Peace Institute. The number is estimated to be between 5,977 and 6257 by other nuclear proliferation watchdogs.
Interestingly, the top 2 places were taken by the US Air Force and US Navy, followed by the Russian Air Force, US Army Aviation, and US Marine Corps. The list is followed by the Indian and Chinese (PLAAF) Air Force.
Russia possesses an estimated 5,977 nuclear warheads as of 2022, the largest stockpile of nuclear warheads in the world; the second-largest stockpile is the United States' 5,428 warheads. Russia's deployed missiles (those actually ready to be launched) number about 1,588, second to the United States' 1,644.
China wields by far the world's largest military, with 2.8 million soldiers, sailors and airmen—twice the American number. (The United States is number two; the only other countries with more than a million active duty troops are China's neighbors—Russia, India and North Korea.)
Americans could face a decisive military defeat… Put bluntly, the U.S. military could lose the next state-versus-state war it fights.” These findings suggest that, in a pitched battle with a near-peer adversary such as China, American forces may be defeated even if its commanders don't make any mistakes.
Geographic feasibility. Many experts have considered the US impossible to invade because of its major industries, reliable and fast supply lines, large geographical size, geographic location, population size, and difficult regional features.
The combined total of Nato military personnel currently exceeds 5.4m – around four times as many as Russia, according to Statista.