MilitaryCompare / Japan vs Australia
Japan vs Australia
Japan ranks #10 and Australia ranks #20 in the 2026 Military Atlas Index. Japan spends $62.2B on defense with 247K active personnel; Australia spends $35.3B with 59K.
| Overview | ||
|---|---|---|
| #10 | Global Rank | #20 |
| $62.2B | Defense Budget | $35.3B |
| 1.4% | Budget % of GDP | 1.9% |
| $4.44T | GDP | $1.80T |
| 123.37M | Population | 27.61M |
| Personnel | ||
| 247K | Active Personnel | 59K |
| 56K | Reserve Personnel | 21K |
| 15K | Paramilitary | 0 |
| Air | ||
| 1,214 | Military Aircraft | 326 |
| 264 | Combat Aircraft | 96 |
| 264 | Fighter Jets | 96 |
| 47 | 5th Gen Fighters | 72 |
| 0 | Bombers | 0 |
| 488 | Helicopters | 50 |
| 83 | Attack Helicopters | 0 |
| 43 | Military Drones (UAV) | 20 |
| Land | ||
| 340 | Main Battle Tanks | 46 |
| 70 | Infantry Fighting Vehicles | 0 |
| 766 | Armoured Personnel Carriers | 1,219 |
| 772 | Artillery Systems | 62 |
| Naval | ||
| 22 | Submarines | 6 |
| 0 | Nuclear Submarines | 0 |
| 2 | Aircraft Carriers | 0 |
| 2 | Helicopter / Amphibious Carriers | 2 |
| Strategic | ||
| 0 | Nuclear Warheads | 0 |
Japan leads in 16 of the 18 measured categories, Australia in 2. Numbers alone do not decide a war: training, logistics, geography, alliances and nuclear deterrence matter too. A dash means the source publishes no figure.
Sources: CSIS Missile Threat, Federation of American Scientists, IISS Military Balance, Military Atlas Index, SIPRI, Wikipedia, Wikipedia / FlightGlobal, World Bank.