Military Power.net

South Koreavs Spain

On Global Firepower's 2026 index, South Korea (#5) holds a solid edge over Spain (#18).

  • Spain has aircraft carriers; South Korea has none.
  • South Korea has destroyers; Spain has none.
  • South Korea fields 11× as many submarines.
  1. People and moneySouth Korea leads 4 of 4
  2. Land forcesSouth Korea leads 5 of 5
  3. Air powerSouth Korea leads 6 of 7
  4. Naval forcesSouth Korea leads 6 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.

$47.8B
Military spending
$40.2B
450K
Active personnel
122K
3.1M
Reserves
24K
120K
Paramilitary
78K

Spending is SIPRI's 2025 estimate in US dollars (South Korea: 2.6% of GDP; Spain: 2.1% of GDP).

Land forces

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

1,831
Tanks
298
117K
Armored vehicles
49K
2,780
Self-propelled artillery
96
5,800
Towed artillery
188
525
Rocket artillery
0

Air power

Fixed-wing and rotary aircraft across all branches.

1,540
Total aircraft
440
242
Fighters
136
98
Attack aircraft
12
827
Helicopters
169
113
Attack helicopters
17
4
Tankers
0
40
Transports
51

Naval forces

Hull counts, from carriers down to patrol boats.

215
Total fleet
175
0
Aircraft carriers
1
2
Helicopter carriers
0
22
Submarines
2
14
Destroyers
0
18
Frigates
11
3
Corvettes
0

Nuclear weapons

Estimated warheads in military stockpiles, January 2026.

0
Warheads
0
0
Deployed warheads
0

Compare other countries

Related matchups

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