Military Power.net

Japanvs Turkey

On Global Firepower's 2026 index, Japan (#7) holds a narrow edge over Turkey (#9).

  • Japan has destroyers; Turkey has none.
  • Turkey fields 3.1× as many tanks.
  • Japan spends 2.1× as much on its military.

Who leads in each area

  1. People and moneyTurkey leads 3 of 4
  2. Land forcesTurkey leads 5 of 5
  3. Air powerJapan leads 6 of 7
  4. Naval forcesEven, 3–3
  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.

$62.2B
Military spending
$30.0B
252K
Active personnel
481K
56K
Reserves
380K
25K
Paramilitary
150K

Spending is SIPRI's 2025 estimate in US dollars (Japan: 1.4% of GDP; Turkey: 1.9% of GDP).

Land forces

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

734
Tanks
2,284
54K
Armored vehicles
98K
193
Self-propelled artillery
1,045
480
Towed artillery
635
99
Rocket artillery
237

Air power

Fixed-wing and rotary aircraft across all branches.

1,429
Total aircraft
1,101
217
Fighters
201
47
Attack aircraft
0
583
Helicopters
509
118
Attack helicopters
111
10
Tankers
7
53
Transports
84

Naval forces

Hull counts, from carriers down to patrol boats.

158
Total fleet
192
0
Aircraft carriers
0
4
Helicopter carriers
1
23
Submarines
14
41
Destroyers
0
8
Frigates
17
0
Corvettes
9

Nuclear weapons

Estimated warheads in military stockpiles, January 2026.

0
Warheads
0
0
Deployed warheads
0

Compare other countries

Related matchups

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