Military profile
United Arab Emirates Military Strength
United Arab Emirates ranks #56 of 145 in the Global Firepower military strength ranking, with 65,000 active personnel.
United Arab Emirates armed forces in numbers
Personnel
- Active military personnel
- 65,000#59 of 145
- Reserve military personnel
- 0#84 of 145
- Paramilitary forces
- 12,000#61 of 145
- Army personnel
- 33,000#82 of 145
- Air force personnel
- 4,000#83 of 145
- Navy personnel
- 3,000#69 of 145
Air power
- Total military aircraft
- 565#20 of 145
- Fighter aircraft
- 99#22 of 145
- Attack aircraft
- 20#33 of 145
- Military helicopters
- 222#17 of 145
- Attack helicopters
- 30#23 of 145
Land forces
- Tanks
- 274#50 of 145
- Self-propelled artillery
- 124#31 of 145
- Towed artillery
- 0#107 of 145
- Rocket artillery
- 40#55 of 145
Naval power
- Aircraft carriers
- 0#8 of 113
- Destroyers
- 0#15 of 113
- Frigates
- 0#56 of 113
- Corvettes
- 9#7 of 113
- Submarines
- 0#44 of 113
- Patrol vessels
- 38#24 of 113
- Mine warfare vessels
- 2#41 of 113
Finance
- Purchasing power parity (GDP, PPP)
- $660.0 billion#34 of 145
Equipment and personnel: Global Firepower 2023 military strength ranking (2023). Spending: World Bank / SIPRI military expenditure data (CC BY 4.0).
United Arab Emirates military spending 2010–2014
Military spending of United Arab Emirates grew by 30% between 2010 and 2014, from $17.5 billion to $22.8 billion (current US dollars), and stood at 5.6% of GDP in 2014.
Armed forces of United Arab Emirates
Branches and forces
United Arab Emirates Armed Forces: Land Forces (Army), Navy, Air Force, Presidential Guard (includes special operations forces), National Guard (includes Coast Guard) (2025)
Personnel
approximately 65,000 active Armed Forces (45,000 Land Forces; 3,000 Navy; 5,000 Air Force; 12,000 Presidential Guard) (2025)
Service age and conscription
18-40 for voluntary service; 18-30 years of age for compulsory national service for men with a 36-month service obligation for those without a secondary education and 11 months for secondary school graduates; women may volunteer for national service (11-month service obligation regardless of education) (2025)
Equipment and suppliers
the military is equipped with mostly modern imported armaments, and a smaller amount of domestically produced weapons; foreign suppliers have included China, France, Germany, Israel, Italy, Russia, South Africa, South Korea, Türkiye, and the US; the UAE's domestic defense industry produces or co-produces such items as armored vehicles, naval vessels, precision munitions, and unmanned aerial vehicles/drones for both internal use and export (2025)
Deployments abroad
maintains a few hundred troops in Somalia and Yemen (2025)
Good to know
the UAE Armed Forces (UAEAF) are responsible for defending the state, its resources, and territory, preserving internal security, and supporting the UAE's foreign policy objectives; key security concerns include regional stability and cross-border threats, such as piracy and terrorism; in recent years, the UAE has undertaken a military modernization program to go along with an assertive security policy which has included military involvements in Afghanistan, Libya, Somalia, Syria, and Yemen the UAE has close security ties to France and the US; it hosts a multi-service French military base, which includes the French naval command for the Indian Ocean (ALINDIEN); the UAE has a defense cooperation agreement with the US and hosts thousands of US military troops, mostly air and naval personnel; it also has defense ties with a number of other countries, including Australia, China, Egypt, Israel, Jordan, Malaysia, South Korea, and the UK, as well as NATO and fellow members of the Gulf Cooperation Council, particularly Saudi Arabia the UAEAF traces its origins to the establishment of the Trucial Oman Scouts in 1951, a joint UK-Abu Dhabi organization modeled after Jordan’s Arab Legion, which became the Abu Dhabi Defense Force in 1965; the modern UAEAF were formed in 1976 (2025)
Military expenditure (% of GDP)
2024: 4% · 2023: 4.3% · 2022: 4% · 2021: 4.5% · 2020: 6.1%
Forces and service: CIA World Factbook (public domain).
United Arab Emirates compared with its neighbours
| Country | Strength rank | Military spending |
|---|---|---|
| United Arab Emirates | #56 | — |
 Oman | #76 | $6.0 billion |
 Saudi Arabia | #22 | $83.2 billion |