How ratings & comparisons work
Every number on this site is either a published manufacturer specification or a transparent calculation derived from those specs. We never invent quality scores or star ratings.
Public data only
Every figure on WeaponSpecs comes from public manufacturer pages, defense-ministry releases and reference publications. Nothing classified or export-controlled is ever published. Published specifications for defense systems are frequently approximations or marketing figures rather than tested values — treat every comparison here as directional, not a substitute for official or classified sources.
1 · Comparison bars (within a comparison)
On a comparison, each bar is relative to the systems you selected. For a spec, we take the smallest and largest value across your set and place each system between them:
fill% = 10 + 90 × (value − min) / (max − min)
Direction-aware: for speed, range and payload higher is better; for unit cost lower is better, so the bar is mirrored. A 10% floor keeps the weakest value visible. It answers one question: “of these systems, which is strongest on this spec?”
2 · Winners (the ✓)
The check mark marks the genuinely best published value in that row — the maximum for higher-is-better specs, the minimum for lower-is-better. Neutral specs (length, crew count) are never crowned. The header tally (“wins 4 / 6”) simply counts decided rows.
3 · Class percentile bars (on a product page)
On a single system’s page the bar shows where it ranks among all systems of the same type for that spec — e.g. “80th percentile in class” means it out-specs 80% of fighters on range. Direction-aware, same as above.
4 · Missing values
We only publish specs taken from public sources. Where a figure is not publicly available, we show “—” rather than guessing or counting it as zero. We never invent a number to make an entry look more complete.
Sources & verification
Specifications are taken from public manufacturer pages, defense-ministry releases and reference publications; each system links to its source where possible. Spotted an error? Systems carry a verification flag and are continuously re-checked against source material.
Cite this page
Researchers and analysts are welcome to cite our data. Please use one of the formats below and link to the specific system or comparison page you referenced.
APA
WeaponSpecs. (2026). How ratings & comparisons work. https://www.weaponspecs.com/methodology/
BibTeX
@misc{weaponspecs2026methodology,
author = {WeaponSpecs},
title = {How ratings & comparisons work},
year = {2026},
url = {https://www.weaponspecs.com/methodology/},
note = {Accessed: \today}
}