China official · commissioned carriers
3
ships · after Fujian entered service in Nov 2025
Defence · capability · source layered
Military capabilities and major equipment
This page does not manufacture a composite military-power score. Organization, platform counts, missile inventories and nuclear forces are different dimensions, and domestic official facts, U.S. government estimates and independent estimates remain separated in the data model.
CRS relays DOD estimate · navy
>370
battle-force ships · quantity only
USCC summary of DOD estimate · 2023
~1,000
medium-range ballistic missiles (MRBM)
SIPRI estimate · Jan 2026
~620
military-stockpile warheads · #3 of nine
Force structure · April 2024
Four services + four arms
This is an organizational taxonomy, not eight equivalent services and not a military-power score.
Services
ArmyNavyAir ForceRocket Force
Arms
Aerospace ForceCyberspace ForceInformation Support ForceJoint Logistics Support Force
Naval scale · same-definition history
PLA Navy battle-force ship count has risen over time
Historical points reproduce the same-definition ONI series in CRS. The latest quoted statement is “over 370,” so 370 is shown only as a lower bound; the older projection of 395 ships for 2025 is not treated as observed.
Source: Congressional Research Service (CRS) ↗ · CRS/DOD battle-force definition; the 2025 point is only the lower bound of “over 370,” not a precise count; legacy 2025/2030 projections are excluded from observed points.chinainfigures.com
Missiles · 2023 estimate
MRBM and IRBM: missiles and launchers are separate stocks
USCC summarizes DOD estimates. The chart shows the 2023 point estimates only; earlier ranges remain ranges in the table below rather than being collapsed to midpoints.
Source: U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission ↗ · USCC 2024 Annual Report Chapter 8 summarizes DOD estimates. Missiles and launchers are separate stocks. The chart shows 2023 point estimates only; earlier ranges remain in the table below.chinainfigures.com
Airborne early warning & control · external estimate
~52
AEW&C aircraft
USCC estimates the PLA Air Force and Navy together operate 52 AEW&C aircraft, including KJ-200, KJ-500, Y-8J. These are command-and-sensor platforms, not fighters.
U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission ↗Earlier ranges preserved
Missile estimate ranges are not made artificially precise
| Class | Year | Missiles | Launchers |
|---|---|---|---|
| MRBM | 2015 | 200–300 | 100–125 |
| MRBM | 2023 | ~1,000 | ~300 |
| IRBM | 2018 | 16–30 | 16–30 |
| IRBM | 2023 | ~500 | ~250 |
Aircraft carrier · domestic official fact
Fujian: China’s third aircraft carrier, hull 18
The Ministry of National Defense also explicitly identifies Fujian as China’s first electromagnetic-catapult carrier. This page counts commissioned carriers only, excluding ships under construction, on trials or merely planned.
Nuclear forces · one SIPRI vintage · Jan 2026
Estimated military stockpiles across nine nuclear-armed states
The main chart uses military stockpile because it excludes retired warheads awaiting dismantlement, making it closer to current military stock than total inventory. All values are approximate SIPRI estimates.
Source: SIPRI Yearbook 2026 ↗ · SIPRI Yearbook 2026; all figures are approximate. Military stockpile includes deployed and centrally stored warheads potentially deployable after preparation, but excludes retired warheads awaiting dismantlement.chinainfigures.com
Why no composite power ranking
Different capabilities do not add cleanly
Ships, missiles, nuclear warheads, AEW&C aircraft, training, logistics and industrial capacity do not have a stable, generally accepted weighting scheme. The page shows traceable component metrics rather than a deceptively precise total score.
Relationship to military spending
Inputs and capability are separate
Military expenditure is a resource-input measure; this page covers selected organizational, platform and stock measures. They complement one another, but spending rank is not a military-capability rank.
See military expenditure →Downloads and revisions
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Includes registered formal points, available historical series and scalar derived metrics. UTF-8 encoded for spreadsheets and analysis tools.
Download CSV ↓Data file updated: 23 Aug 2026
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Revision and update timeline
Military capabilities and major equipment indicator prepared
Prepared a source-layered military-capabilities indicator covering China's official force structure and commissioned carriers, archived CRS/USCC estimates for selected naval, missile and airborne-early-warning dimensions, and a same-vintage SIPRI nuclear-force comparison. Foreign estimates remain explicitly distinct from Chinese official facts; unsupported fighter totals and the blocked DOD equipment PDF are not formalized.
Related sources: Ministry of National Defense of the People's Republic of China ↗ · Ministry of National Defense of the People's Republic of China ↗ · Congressional Research Service ↗ · U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission ↗ · Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) ↗
Sources and definitions registered; automated checks passed
Data downloads and revision timeline added
Added page-level formal-data CSV files, chart-level CSV/PNG/SVG exports and a bilingual revision timeline to all indicator pages.
Sources and definitions registered; automated checks passed