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NATIONAL FORCES · COMPARISON
Belgium vs Germany
| Overview | Belgium | Germany |
|---|---|---|
Active personnel DefinitionFull-time active military personnel; exclude reserves and paramilitary unless explicitly identified. | 22,900Estimate · people · 2026Single source2026 estimate. NATO peacetime military personnel strength; excludes trained reserves held at high readiness. National reporting coverage may differ from regular-force-only headcounts. | 183,200Estimate · people · 2026Single source2026 estimate. NATO peacetime military personnel strength; excludes trained reserves held at high readiness. National reporting coverage may differ from regular-force-only headcounts. |
Armed forces personnel DefinitionActive-duty military personnel, including paramilitary forces whose training, organisation, equipment and control allow them to support or replace regular forces. This is not an active-regular-only count. | 24,000people · 2020Single source2020 annual observation. Active-duty military personnel, including qualifying paramilitary forces; not an active-regular-only count. | 183,000people · 2020Single source2020 annual observation. Active-duty military personnel, including qualifying paramilitary forces; not an active-regular-only count. |
Combat aircraft DefinitionIn-service fixed-wing combat aircraft; exclude stored, retired and ordered aircraft. In service does not establish readiness. | 43Estimate · aircraft · 8 Oct 2024Single sourceNational in-service fixed-wing aircraft classified as Combat aircraft by FlightGlobal/Cirium, summing the Active column across all military services listed for the country. Excludes the separately classified trainers, special-mission aircraft, tankers and helicopters, as well as aircraft in storage, undergoing or awaiting upgrades, and orders. This is the directory's active-role inventory estimate, not a measure of combat readiness. | 192Estimate · aircraft · 8 Oct 2024Single sourceNational in-service fixed-wing aircraft classified as Combat aircraft by FlightGlobal/Cirium, summing the Active column across all military services listed for the country. Excludes the separately classified trainers, special-mission aircraft, tankers and helicopters, as well as aircraft in storage, undergoing or awaiting upgrades, and orders. This is the directory's active-role inventory estimate, not a measure of combat readiness. |
Defence spending DefinitionAnnual military expenditure in current US dollars. State fiscal year, coverage and conversion basis in notes. | US$14.8bnEstimate · USD · 2026 IISS defence budget forecast (November 2025 assessment)Single sourceSource-reported annual official defence budget/appropriation in current US dollars; it is a budget figure, not an assertion of final expenditure or readiness. Explicit 2026 economic-table year column; USD 14.8bn. The table was compiled in the November 2025 IISS assessment; this annual figure is an assessment/estimate and does not assert a final audited outturn. Source coverage/fiscal-year notes: [b] Includes military pensions The explicit 2026 column is forward-looking relative to the November 2025 assessment and is retained as a forecast, not an observed final outturn. | US$137bnEstimate · USD · 2026 IISS defence budget forecast (November 2025 assessment)Single sourceSource-reported annual official defence budget/appropriation in current US dollars; it is a budget figure, not an assertion of final expenditure or readiness. Explicit 2026 economic-table year column; USD 137bn. The table was compiled in the November 2025 IISS assessment; this annual figure is an assessment/estimate and does not assert a final audited outturn. Source coverage/fiscal-year notes: [b] Includes 'Sondervermögen' (special fund) allocation, military pensions and military aid to Ukraine The explicit 2026 column is forward-looking relative to the November 2025 assessment and is retained as a forecast, not an observed final outturn. |
GDP DefinitionAnnual nominal GDP in current US dollars, not purchasing-power parity. | US$761bnEstimate · USD · 2026 IISS nominal GDP forecast (November 2025 assessment)Single sourceAnnual nominal GDP at current market prices, in source-reported current US dollars. Excludes purchasing-power-parity GDP and real GDP growth. Explicit 2026 economic-table year column; USD 761bn. The table was compiled in the November 2025 IISS assessment; this annual figure is an assessment/estimate and does not assert a final audited outturn. The explicit 2026 column is forward-looking relative to the November 2025 assessment and is retained as a forecast, not an observed final outturn. | US$5.33tnEstimate · USD · 2026 IISS nominal GDP forecast (November 2025 assessment)Single sourceAnnual nominal GDP at current market prices, in source-reported current US dollars. Excludes purchasing-power-parity GDP and real GDP growth. Explicit 2026 economic-table year column; USD 5.33trn. The table was compiled in the November 2025 IISS assessment; this annual figure is an assessment/estimate and does not assert a final audited outturn. The explicit 2026 column is forward-looking relative to the November 2025 assessment and is retained as a forecast, not an observed final outturn. |
Main battle tanks DefinitionIn-service main battle tanks; exclude storage and orders. | 0Estimate · vehicles · 2024 reporting yearSingle sourceBelgian national main battle tank inventory in the paper’s 2024 equipment-stock table. Zero is an explicit table cell, not inferred from a missing catalogue entry. | 321Estimate · vehicles · 2023Single sourceGerman national Leopard 2 main battle tank fleet in the report's 2023 assessment: 321 vehicles, excluding the separately bracketed 55 Leopard 2A4 in storage. Future Leopard 2A8 orders are excluded. |
Major surface combatants DefinitionCommissioned cruisers, destroyers and frigates. Exclude patrol craft and support vessels. | 2Estimate · vessels · 30 Jan 2025Single sourceCommissioned cruisers, destroyers and frigates in the national fleet; excludes aircraft carriers, corvettes, patrol, amphibious and support vessels. Fleet count, not immediately deployable strength. | 11Estimate · vessels · 2023Single sourceCommissioned cruisers, destroyers and frigates in the national fleet; excludes aircraft carriers, corvettes, patrol, amphibious and support vessels. Fleet count, not immediately deployable strength. |
Population DefinitionTotal resident population; retain the source's reference year. | 11,941,781people · 2025Single source2025 annual observation. Midyear resident population estimate. | 83,491,249people · 2025Single source2025 annual observation. Midyear resident population estimate. |
Reserve personnel DefinitionReported reserve personnel, with mobilisation and training definitions stated in notes. | 5,900Estimate · people · November 2025 IISS assessmentSingle sourceNational military reserve pool; excludes the separately reported active and paramilitary personnel. Training/mobilisation definitions remain source-specific. | 34,100Estimate · people · November 2025 IISS assessmentSingle sourceNational military reserve pool; excludes the separately reported active and paramilitary personnel. Training/mobilisation definitions remain source-specific. |
Submarines DefinitionCommissioned submarines; exclude vessels on order and decommissioned vessels. | 0Estimate · vessels · 30 Jan 2025Single sourceCommissioned military submarines in the national fleet; excludes orders, construction and uncommissioned trial boats. Fleet count, not immediately deployable strength. | 6Estimate · vessels · 2023Single sourceCommissioned military submarines in the national fleet; excludes orders, construction and uncommissioned trial boats. Fleet count, not immediately deployable strength. |
Transport aircraft DefinitionIn-service dedicated fixed-wing military transport aircraft; exclude trainers and orders. | 7Estimate · aircraft · 8 Oct 2024Single sourceNational in-service fixed-wing military transport aircraft classified as Transport by FlightGlobal/Cirium, summing the Active column across all military services listed for the country. Includes strategic, tactical and light liaison/utility transport aircraft; excludes the separately classified trainers, special-mission aircraft, tankers and helicopters, as well as aircraft in storage, undergoing or awaiting upgrades, and orders. This is the directory's active-role inventory estimate, not a measure of immediate availability. | 50Estimate · aircraft · 8 Oct 2024Single sourceNational in-service fixed-wing military transport aircraft classified as Transport by FlightGlobal/Cirium, summing the Active column across all military services listed for the country. Includes strategic, tactical and light liaison/utility transport aircraft; excludes the separately classified trainers, special-mission aircraft, tankers and helicopters, as well as aircraft in storage, undergoing or awaiting upgrades, and orders. This is the directory's active-role inventory estimate, not a measure of immediate availability. |
Nuclear warheads DefinitionWarheads in the military stockpile, deployed or in reserve; exclude retired warheads awaiting dismantlement. Independent estimates, labelled as such. | —Not yet documented | —Not yet documented |
EQUIPMENT & WEAPONS
Equipment listed in inventory and operator sources, grouped by force and category. Sourced quantities retain their date, variant coverage and inventory status. Equipment without a documented count is listed by type.
332 matching equipment types
| Equipment | Belgium | Germany |
|---|---|---|
| Combat aircraft | ||
| Dassault Mirage 5 | 901976Wikipedia | — |
| Eurofighter Typhoon | — | 1382026 |
| F-16 Fighting Falcon | 482026 | — |
| F-35 Lightning II | 42026 | 12026 |
| Hawker Hunter | In service | — |
| Panavia Tornado | — | 86Current fleet of the German Air Force · 2026Wikipedia |
| Support aircraft | ||
| A330 MRTT | — | 1Current fleet of the German Air Force · 2026Wikipedia |
| A400M Atlas | 72025Wikipedia | 452024 |
| Airbus A310 | 22026Wikipedia | — |
| Airbus A319 | — | 3Current fleet of the German Air Force · 2026Wikipedia 3German Air and Space Force · 2026Wikipedia |
| Airbus A321 | 12020Wikipedia | 1Air Force · 2025 1German Air and Space Force · 2023Wikipedia 1Current fleet of the German Air Force · 2026Wikipedia |
| Airbus A321neo | — | 2Current fleet of the German Air Force · 2026Wikipedia 2Air Force · 2025 2German Air and Space Force · 2022Wikipedia |
| Equipment | Belgium | Germany |
|---|---|---|
| Tanks | ||
| Leopard 1 | — | In service |
| Leopard 2 | — | 3512020Wikipedia |
| M48 Patton | — | In service |
| Armoured vehicles | ||
| ATF Dingo | 2182026Wikipedia | In service |
| BMW F series parallel-twin | — | In service |
| BvS10 | — | In service |
| Iveco LMV | 802024Wikipedia | — |
| JCB HMEE | 42021Wikipedia | 7modern equipment of the German Army · 2026Wikipedia |
| KNDS Fennek | — | 220modern equipment of the German Army · 2025 |
| LAPV Enok | — | 221modern equipment of the German Army · 2026Wikipedia |
| M113 armored personnel carrier | — | 37Army · 2025 37modern equipment of the German Army · 2025 |
| M3 scout car | In service | — |
| Equipment | Belgium | Germany |
|---|---|---|
| Air defence | ||
| 2K12 Kub | — | In service |
| 9K33 Osa | — | In service |
| Arrow (missile family) | — | In service |
| Arrow 3 | — | 12026 |
| Flakpanzer Gepard | — | In service |
| IRIS-T SL | — | In service |
| Patriot | — | 72026 |
| RIM-116 Rolling Airframe Missile | — | 32German Navy ships · 2026Wikipedia |
| RIM-162 ESSM | In service | In service |
| RIM-7 Sea Sparrow | — | In service |
| Skyranger 30 | 202026Wikipedia | — |
| Anti-aircraft guns | ||
| M45 quad mount | In service | In service |
| Equipment | Belgium | Germany |
|---|---|---|
| Small arms | ||
| AA-52 machine gun | In service | — |
| Accuracy International Arctic Warfare | In service | In service |
| Accuracy International AW50 | — | In service |
| Accuracy International AWM | — | In service |
| Barrett M82 | In service | In service |
| Benelli M4 | In service | — |
| Beretta M12 | In service | — |
| Blaser R93 Tactical | — | In service |
| Brügger & Thomet MP9 | In service | — |
| CZ P-10 | — | In service |
| Degtyaryov machine gun | — | In service |
| DSR-Precision DSR-1 | — | In service |
| Equipment | Belgium | Germany |
|---|---|---|
| Radar & sensors | ||
| Aimpoint CompM4 | In service | — |
| AN/AAQ-28 Litening | — | In service |
| AN/FPS-117 | In service | In service |
| BOR-A 550 | — | In service |
| C79 optical sight | In service | — |
| COBRA (radar) | — | 12modern equipment of the German Army · 2026Wikipedia |
| ELCAN Specter | — | In service |
| Euroradar CAPTOR | — | In service |
| Ground Master 400 | — | 6Current fleet of the German Air Force · 2026Wikipedia |
| LLM01 | — | ≥350,000modern equipment of the German Army · 2026Wikipedia |
| RASIT | — | In service |
| Selex RAT-31DL | — | 3Current fleet of the German Air Force · 2026Wikipedia |
| Equipment | Belgium | Germany |
|---|---|---|
| Nuclear weapons | ||
| B61 nuclear bomb | — | In service |
Coverage is incomplete. “Not documented” means no linked inventory evidence, not zero equipment. Methodology ↗
Points represent sourced observations, including revisions. Revisions on the same effective date are not separate inventory events. Ranges appear in the table and are not plotted as exact points.
| Observation / report period | Value | Source | Claim state |
|---|---|---|---|
| November 2025 IISS population assessment | 11,960,170 people | International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS) | superseded |
A shared land boundary is represented in the Natural Earth dataset. Approximate separation between the dataset’s country label points: 300 km.
Generalized geography from Natural Earth 1:110m, version 5.1.1. Label-point distance is calculated on a sphere and rounded to the nearest 100 km; it is not a capital-to-capital distance, route, border distance or operational range. Dataset boundaries do not imply recognition of territorial claims.
Boundaries: Natural Earth 1:110m, v5.1.1 · Public domain · Research catalogue highlighted
Scores out of 100 on the ForceTally Index. Each bar splits in proportion to the two scores. A point at the centre of the chart means no sourced figure for that part.
Points represent sourced observations, including revisions. Revisions on the same effective date are not separate inventory events. Ranges appear in the table and are not plotted as exact points.
| Observation / report period | Value | Source | Claim state |
|---|---|---|---|
| Source snapshot 2026-10-01 · inventory date unstated | 1 units | Wikipedia contributors | superseded |
| Source snapshot 2026-10-01 · inventory date unstated | 138 units | Wikipedia contributors | superseded |
| Source snapshot 2026-10-01 · inventory date unstated | 3 units | Wikipedia contributors | superseded |
| Source snapshot 2026-10-01 · inventory date unstated | 3 units | Wikipedia contributors | superseded |
| Source snapshot 2026-10-01 · inventory date unstated | 50 units | Wikipedia contributors | superseded |
| Source snapshot 2026-10-01 · inventory date unstated | 363 units | Wikipedia contributors | superseded |
| Source snapshot 2026-10-01 · inventory date unstated | 680 units | Wikipedia contributors | superseded |
| Source snapshot 2026-10-01 · inventory date unstated | 290 units | Wikipedia contributors | superseded |
| Source snapshot 2026-10-01 · inventory date unstated | 2 units | Wikipedia contributors | superseded |
| Source snapshot 2026-10-01 · inventory date unstated | 18 units | Wikipedia contributors | superseded |
| Source snapshot 2026-10-01 · inventory date unstated | 24 units | Wikipedia contributors | superseded |
| Source snapshot 2026-10-01 · inventory date unstated | 44 units | Wikipedia contributors | superseded |
| Source snapshot 2026-10-01 · inventory date unstated | 324 units | Wikipedia contributors | superseded |
| Source snapshot 2026-10-01 · inventory date unstated | 8,000 units | Wikipedia contributors | superseded |
| Source snapshot 2026-10-01 · inventory date unstated | 30 units | Wikipedia contributors | superseded |
| Source snapshot 2026-10-01 · inventory date unstated | 8 units | Wikipedia contributors | superseded |
| Source snapshot 2026-10-01 · inventory date unstated | 43 units | Wikipedia contributors | superseded |
| Source snapshot 2026-10-01 · inventory date unstated | 81 units | Wikipedia contributors | superseded |
| Source snapshot 2026-10-01 · inventory date unstated | 46 units | Wikipedia contributors | superseded |
| Source snapshot 2026-10-01 · inventory date unstated | 53 units | Wikipedia contributors | superseded |
| Source snapshot 2026-10-01 · inventory date unstated | 295 units | Wikipedia contributors | superseded |
| Source snapshot 2026-10-01 · inventory date unstated | 13 units | Wikipedia contributors | superseded |
| Source snapshot 2026-10-01 · inventory date unstated | 537 units | Wikipedia contributors | superseded |
| Source snapshot 2026-10-01 · inventory date unstated | 342 units | Wikipedia contributors | superseded |
| Source snapshot 2026-10-01 · inventory date unstated | 862 units | Wikipedia contributors | superseded |
| Source snapshot 2026-10-01 · inventory date unstated | 21 units | Wikipedia contributors | superseded |
| Source snapshot 2026-10-01 · inventory date unstated | 700 units | Wikipedia contributors | superseded |
| Source snapshot 2026-10-01 · inventory date unstated | 730–1,350 units | Wikipedia contributors | superseded |
| Source snapshot 2026-10-01 · inventory date unstated | 49 units | Wikipedia contributors | superseded |
| Source snapshot 2026-10-01 · inventory date unstated | 110 units | Wikipedia contributors | superseded |
| Source snapshot 2026-10-01 · inventory date unstated | ≥400 units | Wikipedia contributors | superseded |
| Source snapshot 2026-10-01 · inventory date unstated | 807 units | Wikipedia contributors | superseded |
| Source snapshot 2026-10-01 · inventory date unstated | 82 units | Wikipedia contributors | superseded |
| Source snapshot 2026-10-01 · inventory date unstated | 60 units | Wikipedia contributors | superseded |
| Source snapshot 2026-10-01 · inventory date unstated | 12 units | Wikipedia contributors | superseded |
| Source snapshot 2026-10-01 · inventory date unstated | 31 units | Wikipedia contributors | superseded |
| Source snapshot 2026-10-01 · inventory date unstated | 76 units | Wikipedia contributors | superseded |
| Source snapshot 2026-10-01 · inventory date unstated | 31 units | Wikipedia contributors | superseded |
| Source snapshot 2026-10-01 · inventory date unstated | 30 units | Wikipedia contributors | superseded |
| Source snapshot 2026-10-01 · inventory date unstated | 221 units | Wikipedia contributors | superseded |
| Source snapshot 2026-10-01 · inventory date unstated | 51 units | Wikipedia contributors | superseded |
| Source snapshot 2026-10-01 · inventory date unstated | 33 units | Wikipedia contributors | superseded |
| Source snapshot 2026-10-01 · inventory date unstated | 328,000 units | Wikipedia contributors | superseded |
| Source snapshot 2026-10-01 · inventory date unstated | 1 units | Wikipedia contributors | superseded |
| Source snapshot 2026-10-01 · inventory date unstated | ≥350,000 units | Wikipedia contributors | superseded |
| Source snapshot 2026-10-01 · inventory date unstated | 525 units | Wikipedia contributors | superseded |
| Source snapshot 2026-10-01 · inventory date unstated | 217 units | Wikipedia contributors | superseded |
| Source snapshot 2026-10-01 · inventory date unstated | 294 units | Wikipedia contributors | superseded |
| Source snapshot 2026-10-01 · inventory date unstated | 65 units | Wikipedia contributors | superseded |
| Source snapshot 2026-10-01 · inventory date unstated | 6 units | Wikipedia contributors | superseded |