Military Power.net

Japanvs Spain

On Global Firepower's 2026 index, Japan (#7) holds a solid edge over Spain (#18).

  • Spain has aircraft carriers; Japan has none.
  • Japan has destroyers; Spain has none.
  • Japan fields 12× as many submarines.
  1. People and moneyJapan leads 3 of 4
  2. Land forcesJapan leads 5 of 5
  3. Air powerJapan leads 7 of 7
  4. Naval forcesEven, 3–3
  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.

$62.2B
Military spending
$40.2B
252K
Active personnel
122K
56K
Reserves
24K
25K
Paramilitary
78K

Spending is SIPRI's 2025 estimate in US dollars (Japan: 1.4% of GDP; Spain: 2.1% of GDP).

Land forces

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

734
Tanks
298
54K
Armored vehicles
49K
193
Self-propelled artillery
96
480
Towed artillery
188
99
Rocket artillery
0

Air power

Fixed-wing and rotary aircraft across all branches.

1,429
Total aircraft
440
217
Fighters
136
47
Attack aircraft
12
583
Helicopters
169
118
Attack helicopters
17
10
Tankers
0
53
Transports
51

Naval forces

Hull counts, from carriers down to patrol boats.

158
Total fleet
175
0
Aircraft carriers
1
4
Helicopter carriers
0
23
Submarines
2
41
Destroyers
0
8
Frigates
11
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: Japan and Spain. Sources: Global Firepower 2026, SIPRI Military Expenditure 2025 (Apr 2026), SIPRI Yearbook 2026: World Nuclear Forces.