Special Report

The NATO Countries with the Most Artillery Firepower

Maurizio Fabbroni / iStock Editorial via Getty Images

Throughout the course of World War II, artillery units literally defined the landscape. Tactical bombardment of enemy positions whether from the land or the sky created the gruesome landscape that was Europe in the wake of World War II. After years of refinement, technological advancement and upgrades, artillery units still play a vital role in modern military forces, and much military strength can be attributed to this firepower. (These are revolutionary military weapons that redefined warfare.)

Practically all NATO members were engaged in World War II to varying degrees, hence the formation of the alliance. With this coalition NATO countries can pool their resources and military power to project power where needed. On the European continent alone many of these countries have formidable artillery forces built up and ready for whatever operational need may be.

To identify the NATO countries with the most artillery units, 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 artillery units in their arsenal. We included supplemental information regarding the total military vehicles, tanks and MLRS units, as well as each country’s overall military strength score.

Out of all the NATO forces, the United States has by far the most robust military. Even outranking NATO’s newest member Sweden that only joined recently. The U.S. Air Force and Navy put it far ahead of other nations but its capacity to wage war on land with tanks and artillery units allow for U.S. forces to deal with any combat environment. (These are the longest range artillery units in the U.S. Army.)

While the U.S. outranks all of these NATO members in overall military strength, many of these nations have comparable sized forces on the ground. These nations rely heavily on their tanks and artillery to get the job done.

Here is a look at the NATO countries with the most artillery firepower:

32. Iceland

MLiberra / iStock via Getty Images
  • Total artillery: 0
  • Total tanks: 0
  • Total military vehicles: 175
  • Total MLRS: 0
  • Military strength score: 3.5038 – #136 out of 145

31. Luxembourg

quinet / Flickr
  • Total artillery: 0
  • Total tanks: 0
  • Total military vehicles: 180
  • Total MLRS: 0
  • Military strength score: 2.1458 – #109 out of 145

30. Albania

U.S. Army Europe / Public Domain / Flickr
  • Total artillery: 0
  • Total tanks: 40
  • Total military vehicles: 976
  • Total MLRS: 0
  • Military strength score: 1.8188 – #90 out of 145

29. Belgium

ajw1970 / Flickr
  • Total artillery: 0
  • Total tanks: 0
  • Total military vehicles: 4,606
  • Total MLRS: 0
  • Military strength score: 1.2064 – #70 out of 145

28. Canada

South+Korea+artillery | M115 8-Inch Howitzer (USA)
Gary Todd / Public Domain / Flickr
  • Total artillery: 0
  • Total tanks: 74
  • Total military vehicles: 18,054
  • Total MLRS: 0
  • Military strength score: 0.3813 – #27 out of 145

27. Montenegro

  • Total artillery: 12
  • Total tanks: 0
  • Total military vehicles: 662
  • Total MLRS: 12
  • Military strength score: 2.9109 – #129 out of 145

26. Slovenia

39955793@N07 / Flickr
  • Total artillery: 18
  • Total tanks: 55
  • Total military vehicles: 1,502
  • Total MLRS: 0
  • Military strength score: 1.8286 – #91 out of 145

25. Denmark

morten812 / Flickr
  • Total artillery: 19
  • Total tanks: 44
  • Total military vehicles: 4,056
  • Total MLRS: 0
  • Military strength score: 0.7743 – #48 out of 145

24. Estonia

39955793@N07 / Flickr
  • Total artillery: 24
  • Total tanks: 0
  • Total military vehicles: 1,409
  • Total MLRS: 6
  • Military strength score: 1.7237 – #87 out of 145

23. Sweden

Azerbaijan+artillery | Romanian artillery
U.S. Army Europe / Public Domain / Flickr
  • Total artillery: 26
  • Total tanks: 120
  • Total military vehicles: 7,958
  • Total MLRS: 0
  • Military strength score: 0.4009 – #29 out of 145

22. Slovakia

Bartlomiej Mostek / Public Domain / Flickr
  • Total artillery: 44
  • Total tanks: 36
  • Total military vehicles: 2,048
  • Total MLRS: 25
  • Military strength score: 1.1891 – #69 out of 145

21. Czechia

Jan Helebrant / Public Domain / Flickr
  • Total artillery: 53
  • Total tanks: 65
  • Total military vehicles: 6,757
  • Total MLRS: 0
  • Military strength score: 0.7706 – #46 out of 145

20. Norway

Syria+artillery | 180607-A-TC961-0002
U.S. Department of Defense / Public Domain / Flickr
  • Total artillery: 56
  • Total tanks: 36
  • Total military vehicles: 7,048
  • Total MLRS: 0
  • Military strength score: 0.5664 – #41 out of 145

19. Latvia

usarmyeurope_images / Flickr
  • Total artillery: 59
  • Total tanks: 0
  • Total military vehicles: 1,544
  • Total MLRS: 0
  • Military strength score: 1.9911 – #99 out of 145

18. Netherlands

  • Total artillery: 72
  • Total tanks: 18
  • Total military vehicles: 3,176
  • Total MLRS: 0
  • Military strength score: 0.5644 – #40 out of 145

17. Lithuania

usarmyeurope_images / Flickr
  • Total artillery: 75
  • Total tanks: 0
  • Total military vehicles: 1,356
  • Total MLRS: 0
  • Military strength score: 1.7395 – #88 out of 145

16. France

Maurizio Fabbroni / iStock Editorial via Getty Images
  • Total artillery: 96
  • Total tanks: 222
  • Total military vehicles: 85,023
  • Total MLRS: 9
  • Military strength score: 0.1878 – #11 out of 145

15. Portugal

p300njb / Flickr
  • Total artillery: 106
  • Total tanks: 34
  • Total military vehicles: 11,173
  • Total MLRS: 0
  • Military strength score: 0.5609 – #38 out of 145

14. Germany

soldiersmediacenter / Flickr
  • Total artillery: 134
  • Total tanks: 295
  • Total military vehicles: 79,317
  • Total MLRS: 33
  • Military strength score: 0.2847 – #19 out of 145

13. Italy

charlesduggar / Flickr
  • Total artillery: 172
  • Total tanks: 200
  • Total military vehicles: 61,892
  • Total MLRS: 21
  • Military strength score: 0.1863 – #10 out of 145

12. Croatia

Public Domain / Wikimedia Commons
  • Total artillery: 181
  • Total tanks: 75
  • Total military vehicles: 3,076
  • Total MLRS: 105
  • Military strength score: 1.1333 – #66 out of 145

11. North Macedonia

Public Domain / Wikimedia Commons
  • Total artillery: 191
  • Total tanks: 23
  • Total military vehicles: 2,156
  • Total MLRS: 24
  • Military strength score: 2.1717 – #110 out of 145

10. United Kingdom

studiaphotos / Flickr
  • Total artillery: 197
  • Total tanks: 213
  • Total military vehicles: 27,203
  • Total MLRS: 41
  • Military strength score: 0.1443 – #6 out of 145

9. Spain

elentir / Flickr
  • Total artillery: 236
  • Total tanks: 327
  • Total military vehicles: 15,046
  • Total MLRS: 0
  • Military strength score: 0.2882 – #20 out of 145

8. Bulgaria

oregonmildep / Flickr
  • Total artillery: 273
  • Total tanks: 215
  • Total military vehicles: 7,420
  • Total MLRS: 24
  • Military strength score: 1.0132 – #62 out of 145

7. Hungary

peer_gynt / Flickr
  • Total artillery: 318
  • Total tanks: 208
  • Total military vehicles: 7,797
  • Total MLRS: 0
  • Military strength score: 0.8478 – #54 out of 145

6. Poland

  • Total artillery: 525
  • Total tanks: 612
  • Total military vehicles: 13,956
  • Total MLRS: 211
  • Military strength score: 0.2917 – #21 out of 145

5. Romania

U.S. Army Europe / Public Domain / Flickr
  • Total artillery: 720
  • Total tanks: 345
  • Total military vehicles: 9,990
  • Total MLRS: 225
  • Military strength score: 0.7712 – #47 out of 145

4. Finland

VanderWolf-Images / iStock Editorial via Getty Images
  • Total artillery: 792
  • Total tanks: 200
  • Total military vehicles: 11,716
  • Total MLRS: 76
  • Military strength score: 0.7967 – #50 out of 145

3. Greece

Public Domain / Wikimedia Commons
  • Total artillery: 1,318
  • Total tanks: 1,365
  • Total military vehicles: 57,030
  • Total MLRS: 152
  • Military strength score: 0.4349 – #32 out of 145

2. Turkey

Public Domain / Wikimedia Commons
  • Total artillery: 2,785
  • Total tanks: 2,231
  • Total military vehicles: 55,104
  • Total MLRS: 286
  • Military strength score: 0.1697 – #8 out of 145

1. United States

Pool / Getty Images
  • Total artillery: 2,862
  • Total tanks: 4,657
  • Total military vehicles: 360,069
  • Total MLRS: 694
  • Military strength score: 0.0699 – #1 out of 145

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