Kenya’s military spending touched a record high of $1.47 billion (Sh190.25 billion) last year, as the country continued its defence modernisation programme amid heightened security threats in the region.
This was an increase of 17 percent from the Sh162.64 billion the country spent on its military in the 12 months to December 2024, according to data from the Sweden-based Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI), an independent global security think tank.
The region’s biggest economy remained ahead of its East African neighbours in military spending and was the third largest spender in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) behind South Africa and Nigeria, according to the SIPRI report.
The pace of increase in military spending last year was slower than the revised growth rate of 19.2 percent recorded in 2024.
However, Kenya’s military expenditure accounted for 4.63 percent of total government spending in 2025, the highest share since 2018.
Kenya remained East Africa’s biggest military spender in 2025, outspending Uganda and Tanzania by a wide margin. According to SIPRI data, Uganda’s military expenditure stood at approximately Sh167.9 billion, while Tanzania spent about Sh133.4 billion during the year.
Ethiopia, whose military had in recent years been engaged in a brutal conflict against Tigrayan forces in the country’s northern region, recorded a decline in defence spending of 24.6 percent to Sh68.4 billion, reflecting the easing of hostilities following the 2022 peace agreement.
Kenya’s military burden-the share of global gross domestic product (GDP) devoted to military expenditure-rose slightly from 1.04 percent in 2024 to 1.07 percent in 2025.
Nairobi’s expenditure as a fraction of its GDP was not only below the global average of 2.4 percent, it was also lower compared to its regional peers, including Uganda, Tanzania, Rwanda, Somalia, and South Sudan.
SIPRI did not reveal where Kenya bought most of its arms. Historically, the US has been considered to have the most extensive and influential military-industrial complex, encompassing a vast network of defence contractors, military bases, research military bases, research facilities, and government agencies.
In 2024, Kenya’s main suppliers were Trkiye and the US, one of the authors of the SIPRI Military Expenditure and Arms Production Programme told the Business Daily in an earlier interview.
Since 2016, Kenya’s military spending has increased by 57.5 percent from $933.1 million (Sh120.8 billion), as the country embarked on its military modernisation programme amid rising regional and global security threats, including persistent attacks by Al-Shabaab and emerging risks tied to Iran-backed Houthi militants in Yemen, whose reported links with Somali-based networks have heightened concerns over cross-border insecurity.
A budget report recently published by the National Treasury indicated that Kenya had secured a Sh6.1 billion Israeli-backed loan to acquire a high-tech missile defence system, strengthening its ability to counter aerial threats amid rising regional insecurity and concerns that the Israel-US war against Iran could spill over into the Horn of Africa.
The funding for the financial year starting July 2026 marks a 79.4 percent increase from the Sh3.4 billion the Ministry of Defence is expected to receive from Tel Aviv in the current financial year ending June, according to a Treasury budget report.
In the budget documents, the Ministry of Defence says rapid advances in military technology are making its equipment obsolete faster and raising the cost of upgrades. It also cites challenges such as limited funding leading to pending bills, porous borders, staff shortages, rising disasters, land disputes, and the high cost of land acquisition and compensation.
Two years ago, the Treasury revealed that Kenya was seeking a Sh1 billion loan from Israel to buy a system dubbed the Spyder Defence System.
The Spyder – short for Surface-to-air PYthon and DERby – is a low-level surface-to-air missile system designed to counter attacks from aircraft, helicopters, unmanned aerial vehicles (drones) and precision-guided munitions.
A study by the United Nations Institute for Disarmament Research found that most non-state armed groups in Africa, including terrorists, have developed an interest in uncrewed aerial systems such as drones, making it urgent for countries such as Kenya to upgrade defence systems.
Al-Shabaab is one of the groups that, although it has yet to use these systems for military attacks, is close to attaining such capabilities, according to the report.
World military expenditure rose by 2.9 percent in real terms to reach $2887 billion in 2025, with the US, China, Russia, Germany and India, combined accounting for 58 percent of world military spending. Military expenditure in sub-Saharan Africa totalled $23.3 billion (Sh3 trillion) in 2025, up by 7.4 percent compared with 2024 and 21 percent more than in 2016.
‘The year-on-year increase was largely driven by higher spending in Nigeria, the second largest spender in the subregion,” reads the report.
“The largest percentage increase in military spending by any country in 2025 was seen in the DRC (+105 percent), where there has been protracted conflict between the government and non-state armed groups.’
The world’s newest nation, South Sudan, recorded the second largest percentage increase (78 percent) amid internal violence and spillover from the Sudanese civil war, reckoned the report.