Finally, we need to account the relatively proximity in rankings. The US is undisputed leader, has few (if any) serious weaknesses, and is commonly viewed as far ahead of everyone else. Russia is not far ahead of China, which has a lot more soldiers, a much more powerful economy, better ocean access, and a more compact geography, but similar weakness in military transports. China will clearly surpass Russia in a few years. The Indian military is also catching up (along with the Indian economy) and is now diversifying away from mostly-Russian weapons to also use leading Western systems. Within 10 years, the top four will be US-China-India-Russia.





