Military Power.net

Spainvs Italy

On Global Firepower's 2026 index, Italy (#10) holds a solid edge over Spain (#18).

  • Italy has destroyers; Spain has none.
  • Italy fields 4× as many submarines.
  • Italy has 2× as many aircraft carriers.
  1. People and moneyItaly leads 3 of 4
  2. Land forcesSpain leads 3 of 5
  3. Air powerItaly leads 5 of 7
  4. Naval forcesItaly 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.

$40.2B
Military spending
$48.1B
122K
Active personnel
166K
24K
Reserves
18K
78K
Paramilitary
105K

Spending is SIPRI's 2025 estimate in US dollars (Spain: 2.1% of GDP; Italy: 1.9% of GDP).

Land forces

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

298
Tanks
203
49K
Armored vehicles
87K
96
Self-propelled artillery
64
188
Towed artillery
108
0
Rocket artillery
21

Air power

Fixed-wing and rotary aircraft across all branches.

440
Total aircraft
714
136
Fighters
88
12
Attack aircraft
65
169
Helicopters
352
17
Attack helicopters
37
0
Tankers
8
51
Transports
31

Naval forces

Hull counts, from carriers down to patrol boats.

175
Total fleet
285
1
Aircraft carriers
2
0
Helicopter carriers
0
2
Submarines
8
0
Destroyers
3
11
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: Spain and Italy. Sources: Global Firepower 2026, SIPRI Military Expenditure 2025 (Apr 2026), SIPRI Yearbook 2026: World Nuclear Forces.