Military Power.net

Italyvs South Korea

On Global Firepower's 2026 index, South Korea (#5) holds a narrow edge over Italy (#10).

  • Italy has aircraft carriers; South Korea has none.
  • South Korea fields 9× as many tanks.
  • South Korea fields 4.7× as many destroyers.
  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.

$48.1B
Military spending
$47.8B
166K
Active personnel
450K
18K
Reserves
3.1M
105K
Paramilitary
120K

Spending is SIPRI's 2025 estimate in US dollars (Italy: 1.9% of GDP; South Korea: 2.6% of GDP).

Land forces

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

203
Tanks
1,831
87K
Armored vehicles
117K
64
Self-propelled artillery
2,780
108
Towed artillery
5,800
21
Rocket artillery
525

Air power

Fixed-wing and rotary aircraft across all branches.

714
Total aircraft
1,540
88
Fighters
242
65
Attack aircraft
98
352
Helicopters
827
37
Attack helicopters
113
8
Tankers
4
31
Transports
40

Naval forces

Hull counts, from carriers down to patrol boats.

285
Total fleet
215
2
Aircraft carriers
0
0
Helicopter carriers
2
8
Submarines
22
3
Destroyers
14
14
Frigates
18
0
Corvettes
3

Nuclear weapons

Estimated warheads in military stockpiles, January 2026.

0
Warheads
0
0
Deployed warheads
0

Compare other countries

Related matchups

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