Military profile
Kuwait Military Strength
Kuwait ranks #78 of 145 in the Global Firepower military strength ranking, with 17,000 active personnel. It spent $8.1 billion on its military in 2025 (4.7% of GDP).
Kuwait armed forces in numbers
Personnel
- Active military personnel
- 17,000#104 of 145
- Reserve military personnel
- 14,000#69 of 145
- Paramilitary forces
- 7,000#81 of 145
- Army personnel
- 25,000#88 of 145
- Air force personnel
- 2,500#99 of 145
- Navy personnel
- 2,700#74 of 145
Air power
- Total military aircraft
- 114#69 of 145
- Fighter aircraft
- 33#50 of 145
- Attack aircraft
- 0#65 of 145
- Military helicopters
- 60#56 of 145
- Attack helicopters
- 16#37 of 145
Land forces
- Tanks
- 367#42 of 145
- Self-propelled artillery
- 74#44 of 145
- Towed artillery
- 0#107 of 145
- Rocket artillery
- 27#65 of 145
Naval power
- Aircraft carriers
- 0#8 of 113
- Destroyers
- 0#15 of 113
- Frigates
- 0#56 of 113
- Corvettes
- 0#47 of 113
- Submarines
- 0#44 of 113
- Patrol vessels
- 106#9 of 113
- Mine warfare vessels
- 0#53 of 113
Finance
- Military spending
- $8.1 billion#35 of 156
- Military spending as % of GDP
- 4.7%#11 of 156
- Purchasing power parity (GDP, PPP)
- $210.0 billion#65 of 145
Equipment and personnel: Global Firepower 2023 military strength ranking (2023). Spending: World Bank / SIPRI military expenditure data (CC BY 4.0).
Kuwait military spending 2010–2025
Military spending of Kuwait grew by 87% between 2010 and 2025, from $4.3 billion to $8.1 billion (current US dollars), and stood at 4.7% of GDP in 2025.
Armed forces of Kuwait
Branches and forces
Kuwait Armed Forces (KAF): Kuwait Army (aka Kuwait Land Forces, KLF), Kuwait Navy (aka Kuwait Naval Force), Kuwait Air Force; Kuwait National Guard (KNG) Ministry of Interior: Kuwait Police, State Security, Kuwait Coast Guard (2025)
Personnel
approximately 17,000 active Kuwait Armed Forces; approximately 7,000 National Guard (2025)
Service age and conscription
18 years of age for voluntary military service for men and women; 12-month compulsory service for men aged 18-35; mandatory service is divided into two phases – 4 months for training and 8 months for military service (2025)
Equipment and suppliers
the military's inventory consists of armaments from Western Europe, Russia, and particularly the US (2025)
Good to know
the Kuwaiti Armed Forces (KAF) are responsible for defending Kuwait's sovereignty and territory; Kuwait’s security concerns include regional threats from state and non-state actors, maritime security, and terrorism; the KAF participates in bilateral and multilateral exercises, as well as a limited number of multinational security operations such as maritime patrols in the Persian Gulf; it also provided a few fighter aircraft to the Saudi-led coalition intervention in Yemen in 2015; the KAF is part of the Peninsula Shield Forces, a joint military force established by the GCC countries with the aim of maintaining security and stability in the region Kuwait's key security partner since the 1991 Gulf War has been the US; the US maintains thousands of military personnel as well as logistics and training facilities in Kuwait as part of mutual cooperation agreements signed in 1991 and 2013; the KAF conducts bilateral exercises with the US military and would look to US assistance in the event of an external attack; Kuwait has Major Non-NATO Ally 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 (2025)
Military expenditure (% of GDP)
2024: 4.9% · 2023: 4.8% · 2022: 4.5% · 2021: 6.5% · 2020: 6.3%
Forces and service: CIA World Factbook (public domain).
Kuwait compared with its neighbours
| Country | Strength rank | Military spending |
|---|---|---|
| Kuwait | #78 | $8.1 billion |
 Iraq | #45 | $6.4 billion |
 Saudi Arabia | #22 | $83.2 billion |