South Koreavs Turkey
On Global Firepower's 2026 index, South Korea (#5) holds a narrow edge over Turkey (#9).
- South Korea has destroyers; Turkey has none.
Who leads in each area
- People and moneyEven, 2–2
- Land forcesSouth Korea leads 4 of 5
- Air powerSouth Korea leads 5 of 7
- Naval forcesSouth Korea leads 5 of 7
- 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
$30.0B450K
Active personnel
481K3.1M
Reserves
380K120K
Paramilitary
150KSpending is SIPRI's 2025 estimate in US dollars (South Korea: 2.6% of GDP; Turkey: 1.9% of GDP).
Land forces
Armour and artillery: the weight an army can put on the ground.
1,831
Tanks
2,284117K
Armored vehicles
98K2,780
Self-propelled artillery
1,0455,800
Towed artillery
635525
Rocket artillery
237Air power
Fixed-wing and rotary aircraft across all branches.
1,540
Total aircraft
1,101242
Fighters
20198
Attack aircraft
0827
Helicopters
509113
Attack helicopters
1114
Tankers
740
Transports
84Naval forces
Hull counts, from carriers down to patrol boats.
215
Total fleet
1920
Aircraft carriers
02
Helicopter carriers
122
Submarines
1414
Destroyers
018
Frigates
173
Corvettes
9Nuclear weapons
Estimated warheads in military stockpiles, January 2026.
0
Warheads
00
Deployed warheads
0Compare other countries
Related matchups
Profiles: South Korea and Turkey. Sources: Global Firepower 2026, SIPRI Military Expenditure 2025 (Apr 2026), SIPRI Yearbook 2026: World Nuclear Forces.