Military profile
Philippines Military Strength
Philippines ranks #32 of 145 in the Global Firepower military strength ranking, with 101,000 active personnel. It spent $6.4 billion on its military in 2025 (1.3% of GDP).
Philippines armed forces in numbers
Personnel
- Active military personnel
- 101,000#42 of 145
- Reserve military personnel
- 100,000#35 of 145
- Paramilitary forces
- 50,000#31 of 145
- Army personnel
- 100,000#35 of 145
- Air force personnel
- 33,500#26 of 145
- Navy personnel
- 25,000#27 of 145
Air power
- Total military aircraft
- 188#52 of 145
- Fighter aircraft
- 0#95 of 145
- Attack aircraft
- 25#26 of 145
- Military helicopters
- 108#35 of 145
- Attack helicopters
- 1#75 of 145
Land forces
- Tanks
- 0#115 of 145
- Self-propelled artillery
- 12#83 of 145
- Towed artillery
- 299#40 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
- 1#43 of 113
- Submarines
- 0#44 of 113
- Patrol vessels
- 50#16 of 113
- Mine warfare vessels
- 0#53 of 113
Finance
- Military spending
- $6.4 billion#41 of 156
- Military spending as % of GDP
- 1.3%#100 of 156
- Purchasing power parity (GDP, PPP)
- $871.6 billion#28 of 145
Equipment and personnel: Global Firepower 2023 military strength ranking (2023). Spending: World Bank / SIPRI military expenditure data (CC BY 4.0).
Philippines military spending 2010–2025
Military spending of Philippines grew by 162% between 2010 and 2025, from $2.4 billion to $6.4 billion (current US dollars), and stood at 1.3% of GDP in 2025.
Armed forces of Philippines
Branches and forces
Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP): Army, Navy (includes Marine Corps), Air Force Department of Transportation: Philippine Coast Guard (PCG); Department of the Interior: Philippine National Police Force (PNP) (2025)
Personnel
approximately 145,000 active Armed Forces (105,000 Army; 25,000 Navy, including about 8,000 Marine Corps; 15,000 Air Force) (2025)
Service age and conscription
some variations in age based on the branch of service, but generally 18-27 years of age for voluntary military service for men and women; no conscription (2025)
Equipment and suppliers
the AFP is equipped with a mix of imported weapons systems from more than a dozen countries, including Brazil, Israel, South Korea, and the US (2025)
Good to know
the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) are responsible for territorial defense and assisting with internal security; much of the AFP's operational focus is on internal security alongside the Philippines National Police, particularly in the south, where several separatist insurgent, terrorist, and criminal groups operate and a considerable portion of the AFP is typically deployed; additional combat operations are conducted against the Communist People’s Party/New People’s Army, which is active mostly on Luzon, as well as the Visayas and areas of Mindanao; prior to a peace deal in 2014, the AFP fought a decades-long conflict against the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), a separatist organization based mostly on the island of Mindanao, which had up to 40,000 fighters under arms maritime security is also a priority; the AFP's naval forces conduct naval interdiction missions in support of security operations on the southern islands, including joint maritime patrols with Indonesia and Malaysia; rising tensions with China over disputed waters and land features in the South China Sea since 2012 have spurred the AFP to place more emphasis on blue-water naval capabilities, including acquiring larger warships such as guided missile frigates, corvettes, offshore patrol vessels, and landing platform dock (LPD) amphibious assault ships the Philippine military was formally organized during the American colonial period as the Philippine Army; they were established by the National Defense Act of 1935 and comprised of both Filipinos and Americans; the US and Philippines agreed to a mutual defense treaty in 1951; based on agreements signed in 2014 and 2023, the Philippine Government allows the rotational presence of US military forces, aircraft, and ships at up to nine bases in the Philippines; also in 2023, the US agreed to assist in modernizing Philippine defense capabilities, deepen interoperability, enhance bilateral planning and information-sharing, and combat transnational and nonconventional threats (2025)
Military expenditure (% of GDP)
2024: 1.7% · 2023: 1.5% · 2022: 1.4% · 2021: 1.2% · 2020: 1.1%
Forces and service: CIA World Factbook (public domain).