I hear this all the time and it’s very subjective - I would argue the second largest is the US Army Aviation Branch - if you count helicopters have a lot more aircraft than the US Navy.
Also the Russian Air Force has more aircraft than the US Navy per most sources. I suspect the internet meme got the Navy and Army Aviation swapped around.
Helicopters are kind of hard to categorize since they are tactically somewhere between aircraft and ground forces. Most helicopters are in support rolls while most airplanes are in combat rolls. Helicopters in combat rolls also get used like they are really fast ground forces.
But yeah, I get what your saying about the subjectivity, and it’s true that my knowledge here is mostly from memes.
The largest air force in the world is the US Air Force. The second largest air force in the world is the US Navy.
I hear this all the time and it’s very subjective - I would argue the second largest is the US Army Aviation Branch - if you count helicopters have a lot more aircraft than the US Navy.
Also the Russian Air Force has more aircraft than the US Navy per most sources. I suspect the internet meme got the Navy and Army Aviation swapped around.
Helicopters are kind of hard to categorize since they are tactically somewhere between aircraft and ground forces. Most helicopters are in support rolls while most airplanes are in combat rolls. Helicopters in combat rolls also get used like they are really fast ground forces.
But yeah, I get what your saying about the subjectivity, and it’s true that my knowledge here is mostly from memes.