The recent global air force ranking has placed India third, surpassing China’s People’s Liberation Army Air Force (PLAAF) for the first time, igniting a mix of pride and caution in India. The assessment, derived from the World Directory of Modern Military Aircraft (WDMMA), highlights India’s diversified sourcing and modernization efforts, despite its smaller fleet size of 1,716 aircraft compared to China’s 3,733. Chinese media, particularly the Global Times, dismissed the ranking as hype, warning against potential miscalculations in the ongoing Sino-Indian rivalry. This development underscores the strategic recalibration in Asia and reflects India’s growing air power, bolstered by recent acquisitions and operational successes, though experts caution that rankings alone do not fully capture battlefield realities.