Australiavs South Korea
On Global Firepower's 2026 index, South Korea (#5) holds a solid edge over Australia (#17).
- South Korea fields 40× as many tanks.
- South Korea fields 10× as many fighters.
- South Korea has 7.6× as many active troops.
Who leads in each area
- People and moneySouth Korea leads 4 of 4
- Land forcesSouth Korea leads 5 of 5
- Air powerSouth Korea leads 6 of 7
- Naval forcesSouth Korea leads 5 of 7
- Nuclear weaponsEven, 0–0
Leads count raw numbers in each category. Larger is not always stronger: a modern fleet can beat a bigger, older one.
People and money
Who can be put in uniform, and how much is spent keeping them there.
$35.3B
Military spending
$47.8B59K
Active personnel
450K33K
Reserves
3.1M0
Paramilitary
120KSpending is SIPRI's 2025 estimate in US dollars (Australia: 1.9% of GDP; South Korea: 2.6% of GDP).
Land forces
Armour and artillery: the weight an army can put on the ground.
46
Tanks
1,83117K
Armored vehicles
117K0
Self-propelled artillery
2,78048
Towed artillery
5,8008
Rocket artillery
525Air power
Fixed-wing and rotary aircraft across all branches.
348
Total aircraft
1,54024
Fighters
24271
Attack aircraft
9872
Helicopters
82722
Attack helicopters
1136
Tankers
437
Transports
40Naval forces
Hull counts, from carriers down to patrol boats.
45
Total fleet
2150
Aircraft carriers
02
Helicopter carriers
26
Submarines
223
Destroyers
147
Frigates
180
Corvettes
3Nuclear weapons
Estimated warheads in military stockpiles, January 2026.
0
Warheads
00
Deployed warheads
0Compare other countries
Related matchups
Profiles: Australia and South Korea. Sources: Global Firepower 2026, SIPRI Military Expenditure 2025 (Apr 2026), SIPRI Yearbook 2026: World Nuclear Forces.