Military Power.net

Germanyvs France

On Global Firepower's 2026 index, France (#6) holds a solid edge over Germany (#12).

  • France has nuclear weapons; Germany has none.
  • France has aircraft carriers; Germany has none.
  • France has destroyers; Germany has none.
  1. People and moneyEven, 2–2
  2. Land forcesEven, 2–2
  3. Air powerFrance leads 6 of 7
  4. Naval forcesFrance leads 5 of 7
  5. Nuclear weaponsFrance leads 2 of 2

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.

$114B
Military spending
$68.0B
184K
Active personnel
264K
860K
Reserves
43K
0
Paramilitary
150K

Spending is SIPRI's 2025 estimate in US dollars (Germany: 2.3% of GDP; France: 2% of GDP).

Land forces

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

296
Tanks
427
87K
Armored vehicles
111K
134
Self-propelled artillery
74
0
Towed artillery
0
33
Rocket artillery
9

Air power

Fixed-wing and rotary aircraft across all branches.

569
Total aircraft
974
127
Fighters
223
63
Attack aircraft
0
292
Helicopters
452
49
Attack helicopters
67
3
Tankers
15
55
Transports
118

Naval forces

Hull counts, from carriers down to patrol boats.

96
Total fleet
166
0
Aircraft carriers
1
0
Helicopter carriers
3
6
Submarines
9
0
Destroyers
11
11
Frigates
5
6
Corvettes
0

Nuclear weapons

Estimated warheads in military stockpiles, January 2026.

0
Warheads
290
0
Deployed warheads
280

Compare other countries

Related matchups

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