Military Power.net

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.
  1. People and moneyEven, 2–2
  2. Land forcesSouth Korea leads 4 of 5
  3. Air powerSouth Korea leads 5 of 7
  4. Naval forcesSouth Korea leads 5 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.

$47.8B
Military spending
$30.0B
450K
Active personnel
481K
3.1M
Reserves
380K
120K
Paramilitary
150K

Spending 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
2,284
117K
Armored vehicles
98K
2,780
Self-propelled artillery
1,045
5,800
Towed artillery
635
525
Rocket artillery
237

Air power

Fixed-wing and rotary aircraft across all branches.

1,540
Total aircraft
1,101
242
Fighters
201
98
Attack aircraft
0
827
Helicopters
509
113
Attack helicopters
111
4
Tankers
7
40
Transports
84

Naval forces

Hull counts, from carriers down to patrol boats.

215
Total fleet
192
0
Aircraft carriers
0
2
Helicopter carriers
1
22
Submarines
14
14
Destroyers
0
18
Frigates
17
3
Corvettes
9

Nuclear weapons

Estimated warheads in military stockpiles, January 2026.

0
Warheads
0
0
Deployed warheads
0

Compare 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.