Military Power.net

Italyvs Ukraine

On Global Firepower's 2026 index, Italy (#10) holds a solid edge over Ukraine (#20).

  • Italy has aircraft carriers; Ukraine has none.
  • Italy has submarines; Ukraine has none.
  • Italy has destroyers; Ukraine has none.

Who leads in each area

  1. People and moneyUkraine leads 3 of 4
  2. Land forcesUkraine leads 4 of 5
  3. Air powerItaly leads 5 of 7
  4. Naval forcesItaly 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
$84.1B
166K
Active personnel
900K
18K
Reserves
4M
105K
Paramilitary
100K

Spending is SIPRI's 2025 estimate in US dollars (Italy: 1.9% of GDP; Ukraine: 40% of GDP).

Land forces

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

203
Tanks
1,121
87K
Armored vehicles
45K
64
Self-propelled artillery
682
108
Towed artillery
625
21
Rocket artillery
288

Air power

Fixed-wing and rotary aircraft across all branches.

714
Total aircraft
347
88
Fighters
88
65
Attack aircraft
30
352
Helicopters
140
37
Attack helicopters
39
8
Tankers
0
31
Transports
22

Naval forces

Hull counts, from carriers down to patrol boats.

285
Total fleet
169
2
Aircraft carriers
0
0
Helicopter carriers
0
8
Submarines
0
3
Destroyers
0
14
Frigates
0
0
Corvettes
0

Nuclear weapons

Estimated warheads in military stockpiles, January 2026.

0
Warheads
0
0
Deployed warheads
0

Compare other countries

Related matchups

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