Russia’s Su-27/30 Fighters Ranked World’s Second Most Popular Military Aircraft — Report

The US F-16 fighters topped the ranking with 2,248 aircraft

Su-27 fighter Vitaly Nevar/TASS

© Vitaly Nevar/TASS

MOSCOW, December 15. /TASS/. Russian Sukhoi Su-27 and Su-30 multirole combat planes are the world’s second most popular military aircraft, according to the World Air Forces 2022 directory published by the FlightGlobal magazine and obtained by TASS on Wednesday.

The findings show that over 1,000 Su-27/Su-30 fighters were in service in military aircraft fleets across the world as of December 2021. The Russian fighters accounted for 7% of the global combat aircraft fleet. The US F-16 fighters topped the ranking with 2,248 aircraft (15% of the total), the study shows.

Flight Global’s Top 10 Ranking also included the Russian MiG-29 fighters (822 aircraft, 6%) and Su-25 attack planes (474 aircraft, 3%).

As of December 2021, 14,713 combat planes were in operational service in military aircraft fleets across the world, the report says.