How the US, Russia, Britain and other world superpowers would fare in unlikely event of all-out war – and who boasts the world’s biggest war chest
THE sprawling armies of the world's superpowers are today laid bare with these Trump Cards detailing the staggering size and strength of each country's war chest.
Fears of conflict have sharply escalated in recent days after Donald Trump bombed a Syrian airbase in response to Bashar al-Assad's chemical weapons attack.
Here we reveal the size of each country's firepower, as well as every country's annual spending on defence and the size of its nuclear arsenal, according to Global Firepower figures.
However, such conflict is unlikely given the size of the superpowers' nuclear arsenals which if used would guarantee mutually assured destruction.
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With an astonishing $581 billion (£468 billion) in annual spending - the US comes out on top in several categories including aircraft.
The next closest is China with $155 billion (£124 billion), then Russia, which spends $46 billion (£37 billion). Both of these countries are dwarfed by the US, even when combined.
In the air, the US retains its huge superiority.
Not only does it have more than 13,500 aircraft (almost 10,000 more than Russia or China), it has 19 aircraft carriers which enable them to be deployed almost anywhere across the globe.
Remarkably, the figures reveal tyrant Kim Jong-un's North Korea has the largest navy with 967 battleships.
But this ignores the quality of his fleet, which is another category that is almost certainly won by the US.
Where Russia sits on top is its nuclear arsenal, believed to contain 8,000 warheads compared to the US's 7,300, according to 2014 figures released by the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute.
Britain, France and China have stockpiles of just 225, 300 and 250 respectively.
Vladimir Putin also boasts more than 15,000 tanks and China has 9,000. The US, by comparison, has just 8,800.
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