Military Power.net

Australiavs Italy

On Global Firepower's 2026 index, Italy (#10) holds a solid edge over Australia (#17).

  • Italy has aircraft carriers; Australia has none.
  • Italy has 6.3× as many naval vessels.
  • Italy fields 4.4× as many tanks.
  1. People and moneyItaly leads 3 of 4
  2. Land forcesItaly leads 5 of 5
  3. Air powerItaly leads 5 of 7
  4. Naval forcesItaly leads 4 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.

$35.3B
Military spending
$48.1B
59K
Active personnel
166K
33K
Reserves
18K
0
Paramilitary
105K

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

Land forces

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

46
Tanks
203
17K
Armored vehicles
87K
0
Self-propelled artillery
64
48
Towed artillery
108
8
Rocket artillery
21

Air power

Fixed-wing and rotary aircraft across all branches.

348
Total aircraft
714
24
Fighters
88
71
Attack aircraft
65
72
Helicopters
352
22
Attack helicopters
37
6
Tankers
8
37
Transports
31

Naval forces

Hull counts, from carriers down to patrol boats.

45
Total fleet
285
0
Aircraft carriers
2
2
Helicopter carriers
0
6
Submarines
8
3
Destroyers
3
7
Frigates
14
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: Australia and Italy. Sources: Global Firepower 2026, SIPRI Military Expenditure 2025 (Apr 2026), SIPRI Yearbook 2026: World Nuclear Forces.