Military Power.net

Germanyvs Spain

On Global Firepower's 2026 index, Germany (#12) holds a solid edge over Spain (#18).

  • Spain has aircraft carriers; Germany has none.
  • Germany fields 3× as many submarines.
  • Germany spends 2.8× as much on its military.
  1. People and moneyGermany leads 3 of 4
  2. Land forcesGermany leads 3 of 5
  3. Air powerGermany leads 6 of 7
  4. Naval forcesEven, 2–2
  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
$40.2B
184K
Active personnel
122K
860K
Reserves
24K
0
Paramilitary
78K

Spending is SIPRI's 2025 estimate in US dollars (Germany: 2.3% of GDP; Spain: 2.1% of GDP).

Land forces

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

296
Tanks
298
87K
Armored vehicles
49K
134
Self-propelled artillery
96
0
Towed artillery
188
33
Rocket artillery
0

Air power

Fixed-wing and rotary aircraft across all branches.

569
Total aircraft
440
127
Fighters
136
63
Attack aircraft
12
292
Helicopters
169
49
Attack helicopters
17
3
Tankers
0
55
Transports
51

Naval forces

Hull counts, from carriers down to patrol boats.

96
Total fleet
175
0
Aircraft carriers
1
0
Helicopter carriers
0
6
Submarines
2
0
Destroyers
0
11
Frigates
11
6
Corvettes
0

Nuclear weapons

Estimated warheads in military stockpiles, January 2026.

0
Warheads
0
0
Deployed warheads
0

Compare other countries

Related matchups

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