Indiavs Japan
On Global Firepower's 2026 index, India (#4) holds a narrow edge over Japan (#7).
- India has nuclear weapons; Japan has none.
- India has aircraft carriers; Japan has none.
- India has 5.7× as many active troops.
Who leads in each area
- People and moneyIndia leads 4 of 4
- Land forcesIndia leads 4 of 5
- Air powerIndia leads 5 of 7
- Naval forcesIndia leads 4 of 7
- Nuclear weaponsIndia 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.
$92.1B
Military spending
$62.2B1.43M
Active personnel
252K1M
Reserves
56K2.53M
Paramilitary
25KSpending is SIPRI's 2025 estimate in US dollars (India: 2.3% of GDP; Japan: 1.4% of GDP).
Land forces
Armour and artillery: the weight an army can put on the ground.
3,913
Tanks
734164K
Armored vehicles
54K100
Self-propelled artillery
1935,640
Towed artillery
480300
Rocket artillery
99Air power
Fixed-wing and rotary aircraft across all branches.
2,183
Total aircraft
1,429476
Fighters
217124
Attack aircraft
47594
Helicopters
58379
Attack helicopters
1186
Tankers
10277
Transports
53Naval forces
Hull counts, from carriers down to patrol boats.
343
Total fleet
1582
Aircraft carriers
00
Helicopter carriers
418
Submarines
2313
Destroyers
4118
Frigates
821
Corvettes
0Nuclear weapons
Estimated warheads in military stockpiles, January 2026.
190
Warheads
012
Deployed warheads
0Compare other countries
Related matchups
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Profiles: India and Japan. Sources: Global Firepower 2026, SIPRI Military Expenditure 2025 (Apr 2026), SIPRI Yearbook 2026: World Nuclear Forces.