Military profile
Ecuador Military Strength
Ecuador ranks #70 of 145 in the Global Firepower military strength ranking, with 70,000 active personnel. It spent $2.7 billion on its military in 2025 (2.1% of GDP).
Ecuador armed forces in numbers
Personnel
- Active military personnel
- 70,000#55 of 145
- Reserve military personnel
- 120,000#32 of 145
- Paramilitary forces
- 500#110 of 145
- Army personnel
- 160,500#24 of 145
- Air force personnel
- 6,400#67 of 145
- Navy personnel
- 9,130#47 of 145
Air power
- Total military aircraft
- 118#65 of 145
- Fighter aircraft
- 9#82 of 145
- Attack aircraft
- 0#65 of 145
- Military helicopters
- 43#66 of 145
- Attack helicopters
- 0#79 of 145
Land forces
- Tanks
- 110#81 of 145
- Self-propelled artillery
- 15#81 of 145
- Towed artillery
- 140#57 of 145
- Rocket artillery
- 0#98 of 145
Naval power
- Aircraft carriers
- 0#8 of 113
- Destroyers
- 0#15 of 113
- Frigates
- 2#42 of 113
- Corvettes
- 6#16 of 113
- Submarines
- 2#34 of 113
- Patrol vessels
- 5#89 of 113
- Mine warfare vessels
- 0#53 of 113
Finance
- Military spending
- $2.7 billion#59 of 156
- Military spending as % of GDP
- 2.1%#56 of 156
- Purchasing power parity (GDP, PPP)
- $185.0 billion#67 of 145
Equipment and personnel: Global Firepower 2023 military strength ranking (2023). Spending: World Bank / SIPRI military expenditure data (CC BY 4.0).
Ecuador military spending 2010–2025
Military spending of Ecuador grew by 31% between 2010 and 2025, from $2.1 billion to $2.7 billion (current US dollars), and stood at 2.1% of GDP in 2025.
Armed forces of Ecuador
Branches and forces
Ecuadorian Armed Forces (Fuerzas Armadas del Ecuador): Ground Force (Fuerza Terrestre), Naval Force (Fuerza Naval; includes naval infantry, naval aviation, coast guard), Ecuadorian Air Force (Fuerza Aérea Ecuatoriana) (2025)
Personnel
approximately 40,000 active Ecuadorian Armed Forces (2025)
Service age and conscription
18-22 years of age for voluntary military service for men and women; 12-month service obligation; conscription abolished in 2008 (2025)
Equipment and suppliers
the military's inventory includes a mix of mostly older and limited quantities of more modern equipment from a variety of sources such as Brazil, Chile, China, France, Italy, Germany, Russia/Soviet-Union, Spain, Turkey, the UK, and the US (2025)
Good to know
the military is responsible for preserving Ecuador’s national sovereignty and defending the integrity of the state; it also has some domestic security responsibilities and may complement police operations in maintaining public order if required; the military shares responsibility for border enforcement with the National Police; it participates in bilateral and multinational training exercises and has sent troops on UN peacekeeping missions; the military has defense ties to regional countries, such as Chile, Colombia, and Peru border conflicts with Peru dominated the military’s focus until the late 1990s and border security remains a priority, but in more recent years, security challenges have included counterinsurgency and counternarcotics operations, particularly in the northern border area where violence and other criminal activity related to terrorism, insurgency, and narco-trafficking in Colombia, as well as refugees from Venezuela, have spilled over the border; the military has established a joint service task force for counterinsurgency and counternarcotics operations and boosted troop deployments along those borders; other missions include countering illegal mining, smuggling, and maritime piracy; since 2012, the Ecuadorian Government has expanded the military’s role in general public security and domestic crime operations, in part due to rising violence, police corruption, and police ineffectiveness; in 2024, Ecuador passed a constitutional amendment formally authorizing the military to participate in complementary security roles such as supporting law enforcement in high-risk areas, conducting joint operations against organized crime, and providing logistical assistance in maintaining public order the military ruled the country from 1963-1966 and 1972-1979, and supported a dictatorship in 1970-1972; during the 1980s, the military remained loyal to the civilian government, but civilian-military relations were at times tenuous, and the military had considerable autonomy from civilian oversight; it was involved in coup attempts in 2000 and 2010 (2025)
Military expenditure (% of GDP)
2024: 2.2% · 2023: 2.3% · 2022: 2.2% · 2021: 2.4% · 2020: 2.3%
Forces and service: CIA World Factbook (public domain).
Peru
Colombia