As the India vs. Pakistan conflict has reemerged, many are wondering how long it will last this time, which one has the upper hand, and who might come out as the winner – at least until another fight starts.
Indeed, the newest escalation saw India launch military strikes on Pakistan, and Pakistan saying it shot down five Indian Air Force jets, after a massacre in the India-administered part of Kashmir, to which both India and Pakistan lay claim and have been fighting over since the 1940s.
According to New Delhi, 26 people – mostly Indian tourists – were gunned down at a scenic mountain spot by the hands of Pakistani attackers, while Islamabad denies any involvement. Still, a conflict ensued, and the Prime Minister of Pakistan, Shahbaz Sharif, has referred to India’s strikes as a “grave mistake for which it must now pay the price.”
As he argued in a televised video shared by the United States President Donald Trump on his X profile, “despite being numerically superior, the enemy was brought to its knees in just a few hours.”
Whose army is stronger, India or Pakistan?
In line with his words, we were curious to learn just how “numerically superior” India’s military is in contrast to that of Pakistan, as well as how their firepower compares to each other. As it happens, with the help of the GlobalFirepower (GFP) website, we’ve extracted the numbers that provide a solid picture.
Overall, India seems to be stronger in all categories except land power and geography, making it far superior to Pakistan in terms of manpower, airpower, naval power, natural resources, financials, and logistics. Let’s find out how they weigh against each other in more detail.
Manpower
First of all, with 662.3 million individuals, of which 522.79 million are fit for service, India has a lot more available manpower compared to Pakistan’s 108.52 million, of which 85.8 million are fit for service.
Each year, about 23.96 million young people reach military age, whereas this number for Pakistan is at 4.79 million. The scales are slightly closer in regard to active personnel, of which India has 1.46 million, and Pakistan 654,000.
Financials
In financial terms, India outmatches Pakistan once again, thanks to its $75 billion defense budget that is significantly larger than Islamabad’s $7.64 billion. New Delhi’s purchasing power is also substantially higher, at $13.1 trillion, as opposed to Pakistan’s $1.35 trillion.
Being a much larger nation, India also has a greater external debt ($371.02 billion) than Pakistan ($92.43 billion), but also a higher foreign reserve ($627.79 billion vs. $13.73 billion).
Airpower
When it comes to airpower, the situation is more levelled out, as India has 2,229 aircraft and the significantly smaller Pakistan has as many as 1,399, which isn’t a lot less considering the size of the nation, its military manpower, and finances.
Among these, New Delhi has 513 fighter aircraft and Islamabad has 328, so losing those five planes would hurt (if true, of course).
Land power
India has 4,201 tanks, while Pakistan has 2,627, which isn’t a major difference considering the rest of the factors. However, the former holds much more power in armored vehicles – 148,594, as opposed to the latter’s 17,516.
That said, things are absolutely in Pakistan’s favor in regards to self-propelled artillery (SPA), an important component of ground fighting that supplies various projectile types, and which it has 662 self-propelled guns (SPGs), whereas India has only 100.
Naval power
Finally, India’s naval power consists of 293 fleet units, whereas Pakistan has 121, again, not that big of a difference, considering either country’s population, manpower, and other numbers. India has 18 submarines, while Pakistan has 8.
Interestingly, Islamabad has three mine warfare vessels, whereas New Delhi has none, although India boasts two aircraft carriers, as opposed to zero for Pakistan (neither has any helicopter carriers).
Settling the India vs. Pakistan score
All things considered, India does seem to be a lot stronger than Pakistan when it comes to its military might. That said, people and firepower don’t necessarily mean an edge in a weaponized conflict. History buffs will probably recall the Winter War between the Soviet Union and Finland in 1939-1940.
During this conflict, the severely underpowered Finnish forces managed to fend off the Soviets on many occasions, using improvisation, survival training, skiing skills, weather, and terrain to their benefit.
Particularly interesting was the Battle of Taipale, in which the Finns used the advantage of elevation and dry ground to dig in as they anticipated the Red Army attack. They managed to repel the Soviet infantry, and later strengthened artillery and tanks, all of which suffered heavy casualties.
During the Battle of Raate Road, Finns also used the strategy of isolating smaller portions of numerically superior Soviet forces into pockets (a ‘motti’ in Finnish), dealing with them individually as they attacked the starving and freezing soldiers from all sides.
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Ultimately, the Soviet Union did come out as the winner, but not without suffering extreme losses – a lesson in the dangers of overconfidence and the importance of covering every possible angle when fighting a war, and not just throwing valuable resources at it.
