One of the most destructive military assets to ever see the battlefield was the tank. Rising to prominence in World War II, tanks littered the European Theater on both sides of the war. Tanks literally changed the landscape of Europe with their hard-hitting munitions and many European powers have not forgotten this. NATO countries, primarily those in Europe, each keep a fairly sizable force of tanks at the ready should their need ever rise again. (These are the revolutionary army vehicles that transformed warfare.)
While most NATO members have tank armies at their disposal, there are a few notable countries that do not employ these mechanized monsters. Iceland and Luxembourg are each known for their small size and the fact that they do not have a strong military backing. However, other larger NATO powers more than make up for this discrepancy with their huge arsenals of tanks and artillery.
To identify the NATO countries with the most tanks, 24/7 Wall St. reviewed 2024 Military Strength Ranking from Global Firepower, an annually updated defense-related statistics website with information on 145 countries. Countries were ranked on the total number of tanks in their arsenal. We included supplemental information regarding the total military vehicles, artillery and MLRS units, as well as each country’s overall military strength score. We excluded NATO members that do not have any tanks.
Although Germany and France are largely considered some of the most powerful countries in the NATO Alliance, they do not have the largest tank armies comparatively. Instead, these two military juggernauts rely more on their air force and navy to project power when needed.
Among the tank armies in NATO, the United States, Turkey and Greece take the top spots, each with more than 1,000 units in their arsenal. Some of these tanks are older models, but they are still capable of packing a punch on the battlefield. (This is the latest generation of modern era tanks.)
Here is a look at the NATO countries with the most tanks:
25. Netherlands
- Total tanks: 18
- Total military vehicles: 3,176
- Total artillery: 72
- Total MLRS: 0
- Military strength score: 0.5644 – #40 out of 145
24. North Macedonia
- Total tanks: 23
- Total military vehicles: 2,156
- Total artillery: 191
- Total MLRS: 24
- Military strength score: 2.1717 – #110 out of 145
23. Portugal
- Total tanks: 34
- Total military vehicles: 11,173
- Total artillery: 106
- Total MLRS: 0
- Military strength score: 0.5609 – #38 out of 145
22. Norway
- Total tanks: 36
- Total military vehicles: 7,048
- Total artillery: 56
- Total MLRS: 0
- Military strength score: 0.5664 – #41 out of 145
21. Slovakia
- Total tanks: 36
- Total military vehicles: 2,048
- Total artillery: 44
- Total MLRS: 25
- Military strength score: 1.1891 – #69 out of 145
20. Albania
- Total tanks: 40
- Total military vehicles: 976
- Total artillery: 0
- Total MLRS: 0
- Military strength score: 1.8188 – #90 out of 145
19. Denmark
- Total tanks: 44
- Total military vehicles: 4,056
- Total artillery: 19
- Total MLRS: 0
- Military strength score: 0.7743 – #48 out of 145
18. Slovenia
- Total tanks: 55
- Total military vehicles: 1,502
- Total artillery: 18
- Total MLRS: 0
- Military strength score: 1.8286 – #91 out of 145
17. Czechia
- Total tanks: 65
- Total military vehicles: 6,757
- Total artillery: 53
- Total MLRS: 0
- Military strength score: 0.7706 – #46 out of 145
16. Canada
- Total tanks: 74
- Total military vehicles: 18,054
- Total artillery: 0
- Total MLRS: 0
- Military strength score: 0.3813 – #27 out of 145
15. Croatia
- Total tanks: 75
- Total military vehicles: 3,076
- Total artillery: 181
- Total MLRS: 105
- Military strength score: 1.1333 – #66 out of 145
14. Sweden
- Total tanks: 120
- Total military vehicles: 7,958
- Total artillery: 26
- Total MLRS: 0
- Military strength score: 0.4009 – #29 out of 145
13. Italy
- Total tanks: 200
- Total military vehicles: 61,892
- Total artillery: 172
- Total MLRS: 21
- Military strength score: 0.1863 – #10 out of 145
12. Finland
- Total tanks: 200
- Total military vehicles: 11,716
- Total artillery: 792
- Total MLRS: 76
- Military strength score: 0.7967 – #50 out of 145
11. Hungary
- Total tanks: 208
- Total military vehicles: 7,797
- Total artillery: 318
- Total MLRS: 0
- Military strength score: 0.8478 – #54 out of 145
10. United Kingdom
- Total tanks: 213
- Total military vehicles: 27,203
- Total artillery: 197
- Total MLRS: 41
- Military strength score: 0.1443 – #6 out of 145
9. Bulgaria
- Total tanks: 215
- Total military vehicles: 7,420
- Total artillery: 273
- Total MLRS: 24
- Military strength score: 1.0132 – #62 out of 145
8. France
- Total tanks: 222
- Total military vehicles: 85,023
- Total artillery: 96
- Total MLRS: 9
- Military strength score: 0.1878 – #11 out of 145
7. Germany
- Total tanks: 295
- Total military vehicles: 79,317
- Total artillery: 134
- Total MLRS: 33
- Military strength score: 0.2847 – #19 out of 145
6. Spain
- Total tanks: 327
- Total military vehicles: 15,046
- Total artillery: 236
- Total MLRS: 0
- Military strength score: 0.2882 – #20 out of 145
5. Romania
- Total tanks: 345
- Total military vehicles: 9,990
- Total artillery: 720
- Total MLRS: 225
- Military strength score: 0.7712 – #47 out of 145
4. Poland
- Total tanks: 612
- Total military vehicles: 13,956
- Total artillery: 525
- Total MLRS: 211
- Military strength score: 0.2917 – #21 out of 145
3. Greece
- Total tanks: 1,365
- Total military vehicles: 57,030
- Total artillery: 1,318
- Total MLRS: 152
- Military strength score: 0.4349 – #32 out of 145
2. Turkey
- Total tanks: 2,231
- Total military vehicles: 55,104
- Total artillery: 2,785
- Total MLRS: 286
- Military strength score: 0.1697 – #8 out of 145
1. United States
- Total tanks: 4,657
- Total military vehicles: 360,069
- Total artillery: 2,862
- Total MLRS: 694
- Military strength score: 0.0699 – #1 out of 145
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