Military profile
Australia Military Strength
Australia ranks #16 of 145 in the Global Firepower military strength ranking, with 60,500 active personnel. It spent $35.3 billion on its military in 2025 (1.9% of GDP).
Australia armed forces in numbers
Personnel
- Active military personnel
- 60,500#62 of 145
- Reserve military personnel
- 30,000#58 of 145
- Paramilitary forces
- 0#113 of 145
- Army personnel
- 50,000#62 of 145
- Air force personnel
- 20,000#32 of 145
- Navy personnel
- 20,000#31 of 145
Air power
- Total military aircraft
- 353#32 of 145
- Fighter aircraft
- 24#58 of 145
- Attack aircraft
- 48#14 of 145
- Military helicopters
- 108#35 of 145
- Attack helicopters
- 22#32 of 145
Land forces
- Tanks
- 59#87 of 145
- Self-propelled artillery
- 0#96 of 145
- Towed artillery
- 48#82 of 145
- Rocket artillery
- 0#98 of 145
Naval power
- Aircraft carriers
- 0#8 of 113
- Destroyers
- 3#13 of 113
- Frigates
- 8#20 of 113
- Corvettes
- 0#47 of 113
- Submarines
- 6#17 of 113
- Patrol vessels
- 12#69 of 113
- Mine warfare vessels
- 4#32 of 113
Finance
- Military spending
- $35.3 billion#17 of 156
- Military spending as % of GDP
- 1.9%#68 of 156
- Purchasing power parity (GDP, PPP)
- $1.25 trillion#18 of 145
Equipment and personnel: Global Firepower 2023 military strength ranking (2023). Spending: World Bank / SIPRI military expenditure data (CC BY 4.0).
Australia military spending 2010–2025
Military spending of Australia grew by 52% between 2010 and 2025, from $23.2 billion to $35.3 billion (current US dollars), and stood at 1.9% of GDP in 2025.
Armed forces of Australia
Branches and forces
Australian Defense Force (ADF): Australian Army, Royal Australian Navy, Royal Australian Air Force (2025)
Personnel
approximately 60,000 active ADF personnel (2025)
Service age and conscription
17 years of age (with parental consent; 18 years of age to deploy) for voluntary military service for men and women; no conscription (abolished 1972) (2025)
Equipment and suppliers
the military's inventory includes a mix of domestically produced and imported Western weapons systems; in recent years, the US has been the largest supplier of arms; the Australian defense industry produces a variety of land and sea weapons platforms; the defense industry also participates in joint development and production ventures with other Western countries, including the US and Canada (2025)
Deployments abroad
note: the number of Australian military forces varies by mission; since the 1990s, Australia has deployed more than 30,000 personnel on nearly 100 UN peacekeeping and coalition military operations around the World
Good to know
the ADF's missions include protecting Australia’s borders and maritime interests, responding to domestic natural disasters, and deploying overseas for humanitarian, peacekeeping, and other security-related missions; in 2024, it established a cyber command; the ADF regularly participates in bi-lateral and multi-lateral exercises with foreign militaries Australia has been part of the Australia, New Zealand, and US Security (ANZUS) Treaty since 1951; Australia is also a member of the Five Powers Defense Arrangements (FPDA), a series of mutual assistance agreements reached in 1971 embracing Australia, Malaysia, New Zealand, Singapore, and the UK Australia has long-standing bi-lateral defense and security ties to the UK, including defense and security cooperation treaties in 2024 and 2013; the Australia-UK Ministerial Consultations (AUKMIN) is their premier bilateral forum on foreign policy, defense, and security issues Australia also has a long-standing military relationship with the US; Australian and US forces first fought together in France in 1918 and have fought together in every major US conflict since; Australia and the US signed an agreement in 2014 that allowed for closer bi-lateral defense and security cooperation, including rotations of US military forces and equipment to Australia; Australian military forces train often with US forces; Australia has Major Non-NATO Ally (MNNA) status with the US, a designation under US law that provides foreign partners with certain benefits in the areas of defense trade and security cooperation in 2021, Australia, the UK, and the US announced an enhanced trilateral security partnership called “AUKUS” which would build on existing bilateral ties, including deeper integration of defense and security-related science, technology, industrial bases, and supply chains, as well as deeper cooperation on a range of defense and security capabilities (2025)
Military expenditure (% of GDP)
2024: 2% · 2023: 2% · 2022: 2% · 2021: 2% · 2020: 2%
Forces and service: CIA World Factbook (public domain).