MOSCOW, December 11. /TASS/. Russia continues to rank second in the world by the number of its operational military aircraft, according to the World Air Forces 2020 review published by the Flight International leading global aerospace magazine on Wednesday.

As of December 2019, Russia operates 4,163 military aircraft and helicopters of various designation or 8% of the global military fleet and is second only to the United States by this indicator (13,266 fixed- and rotary-wing aircraft or 25% of the total figure). China ranks third with 3,210 military aircraft and helicopters or 6% of the global military fleet, the research shows.

Compared to the previous World Air Forces research released in December 2018, Russia’s active military fleet grew inconsiderably — by 85 aircraft. Over the same period, the US Air Force downsized its fleet by 132 aircraft and helicopters while China beefed up its military aviation by 23 aircraft.

The Flight International experts also noted that Russia and CIS countries demonstrated the highest rates of growth in the number of operational military aircraft. Specifically, the number of active combat aircraft and helicopters in that region grew by 4% while this number actually remained unchanged in the Asia-Pacific region and declined by 1% in North America.

Russia’s Su-27/30 fighters ranked among the world’s most popular combat aircraft