Military Power.net

Germanyvs South Korea

On Global Firepower's 2026 index, South Korea (#5) holds a solid edge over Germany (#12).

  • South Korea has destroyers; Germany has none.
  • South Korea fields 6.2× as many tanks.
  • South Korea fields 3.7× as many submarines.
  1. People and moneySouth Korea leads 3 of 4
  2. Land forcesSouth Korea leads 5 of 5
  3. Air powerSouth Korea leads 6 of 7
  4. Naval forcesSouth Korea leads 5 of 7
  5. 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.

$114B
Military spending
$47.8B
184K
Active personnel
450K
860K
Reserves
3.1M
0
Paramilitary
120K

Spending is SIPRI's 2025 estimate in US dollars (Germany: 2.3% of GDP; South Korea: 2.6% of GDP).

Land forces

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

296
Tanks
1,831
87K
Armored vehicles
117K
134
Self-propelled artillery
2,780
0
Towed artillery
5,800
33
Rocket artillery
525

Air power

Fixed-wing and rotary aircraft across all branches.

569
Total aircraft
1,540
127
Fighters
242
63
Attack aircraft
98
292
Helicopters
827
49
Attack helicopters
113
3
Tankers
4
55
Transports
40

Naval forces

Hull counts, from carriers down to patrol boats.

96
Total fleet
215
0
Aircraft carriers
0
0
Helicopter carriers
2
6
Submarines
22
0
Destroyers
14
11
Frigates
18
6
Corvettes
3

Nuclear weapons

Estimated warheads in military stockpiles, January 2026.

0
Warheads
0
0
Deployed warheads
0

Compare other countries

Related matchups

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