Military profile
Peru Military Strength
Peru ranks #53 of 145 in the Global Firepower military strength ranking, with 95,000 active personnel. It spent $2.6 billion on its military in 2025 (0.8% of GDP).
Peru armed forces in numbers
Personnel
- Active military personnel
- 95,000#47 of 145
- Reserve military personnel
- 100,000#35 of 145
- Paramilitary forces
- 50,000#31 of 145
- Army personnel
- 85,000#42 of 145
- Air force personnel
- 20,000#32 of 145
- Navy personnel
- 26,000#26 of 145
Air power
- Total military aircraft
- 246#41 of 145
- Fighter aircraft
- 16#68 of 145
- Attack aircraft
- 22#30 of 145
- Military helicopters
- 93#40 of 145
- Attack helicopters
- 16#37 of 145
Land forces
- Tanks
- 261#53 of 145
- Self-propelled artillery
- 24#70 of 145
- Towed artillery
- 286#42 of 145
- Rocket artillery
- 61#49 of 145
Naval power
- Aircraft carriers
- 0#8 of 113
- Destroyers
- 0#15 of 113
- Frigates
- 7#22 of 113
- Corvettes
- 7#10 of 113
- Submarines
- 6#17 of 113
- Patrol vessels
- 7#82 of 113
- Mine warfare vessels
- 0#53 of 113
Finance
- Military spending
- $2.6 billion#60 of 156
- Military spending as % of GDP
- 0.8%#128 of 156
- Purchasing power parity (GDP, PPP)
- $400.0 billion#48 of 145
Equipment and personnel: Global Firepower 2023 military strength ranking (2023). Spending: World Bank / SIPRI military expenditure data (CC BY 4.0).
Peru military spending 2010–2025
Military spending of Peru grew by 19% between 2010 and 2025, from $2.2 billion to $2.6 billion (current US dollars), and stood at 0.8% of GDP in 2025.
Armed forces of Peru
Branches and forces
Armed Forces of Peru (Fuerzas Armadas del Perú or FAP): Peruvian Army (Ejercito del Peru), Peruvian Navy (Marina de Guerra del Peru, MGP, includes naval infantry and General Directorate of Captaincies and Coast Guards, DICAPI), Air Force of Peru (Fuerza Aerea del Peru, FAP) Ministry of the Interior: Peruvian National Police (Policía Nacional del Perú, PNP) (2025)
Personnel
information varies; approximately 85,000 active-duty Armed Forces (50,000 Army; 25,000 Navy; 10,000 Air Force); approximately 75,000 National Police (2025)
Service age and conscription
18-30 years of age for voluntary military service (12-24 months) (2025)
Equipment and suppliers
the military's inventory consists of mostly older or secondhand armaments originating from a range of countries, including Brazil, China, France, Germany, Italy, Russia/former Soviet Union, South Korea, Spain, and the US; Peru has a small defense industry, including a shipyard that builds and upgrades naval vessels; it also has defense industrial cooperation agreements with several countries, including Russia, South Korea, Spain, and the US (2025)
Deployments abroad
225 Central African Republic (MINUSCA) (2025)
Good to know
the Peruvian Armed Forces (FAP) are responsible for external defense in addition to some domestic security responsibilities in designated emergency areas and in exceptional circumstances; key areas of focus include counterinsurgency, counternarcotics, cyber defense, disaster relief, and maritime security operations; the FAP supported the police during anti-government protests in early 2023; it has contributed to UN missions since 1958 and has ties to regional militaries, particularly Colombia, as well as those of numerous other countries such as China, Russia, Spain, and the US; the FAP’s last external conflict was a brief border war with Ecuador in 1995 the Special Command of the Valley of the Apurimac, Ene, and Mantaro rivers (CE-VRAEM) is responsible for combating the remnants of the Shining Path terrorist group (aka Sendero Luminoso) and includes several thousand air, ground, naval, police, and special forces personnel; the FAP also provides aircraft, vehicles, and logistical support to the command (2025)
Military expenditure (% of GDP)
2024: 0.8% · 2023: 1% · 2022: 1.1% · 2021: 1.1% · 2020: 1.2%
Forces and service: CIA World Factbook (public domain).
Brazil
Ecuador
Colombia
Bolivia
Chile