Military Power.net

Francevs Spain

On Global Firepower's 2026 index, France (#6) holds a solid edge over Spain (#18).

  • France has nuclear weapons; Spain has none.
  • France has destroyers; Spain has none.
  • France fields 4.5× as many submarines.
  1. People and moneyFrance leads 4 of 4
  2. Land forcesFrance leads 3 of 5
  3. Air powerFrance leads 6 of 7
  4. Naval forcesFrance leads 3 of 7
  5. Nuclear weaponsFrance leads 2 of 2

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.

$68.0B
Military spending
$40.2B
264K
Active personnel
122K
43K
Reserves
24K
150K
Paramilitary
78K

Spending is SIPRI's 2025 estimate in US dollars (France: 2% of GDP; Spain: 2.1% of GDP).

Land forces

Armour and artillery: the weight an army can put on the ground.

427
Tanks
298
111K
Armored vehicles
49K
74
Self-propelled artillery
96
0
Towed artillery
188
9
Rocket artillery
0

Air power

Fixed-wing and rotary aircraft across all branches.

974
Total aircraft
440
223
Fighters
136
0
Attack aircraft
12
452
Helicopters
169
67
Attack helicopters
17
15
Tankers
0
118
Transports
51

Naval forces

Hull counts, from carriers down to patrol boats.

166
Total fleet
175
1
Aircraft carriers
1
3
Helicopter carriers
0
9
Submarines
2
11
Destroyers
0
5
Frigates
11
0
Corvettes
0

Nuclear weapons

Estimated warheads in military stockpiles, January 2026.

290
Warheads
0
280
Deployed warheads
0

Compare other countries

Related matchups

Profiles: France and Spain. Sources: Global Firepower 2026, SIPRI Military Expenditure 2025 (Apr 2026), SIPRI Yearbook 2026: World Nuclear Forces.