6 NATO Air Forces Ranked By What Their Top Fighter Pilots Take Home In 2026

Credit: Shutterstock, Simple Flying Published Aug 18, 2026, 6:00 PM EDT Aaron is an aviation enthusiast and world traveler with a deep interest in aerospace history and technology. He has traveled around the world numerous times, often incorporating visits to aviation museums and historic aircraft collections into his journeys. A native of New Zealand, he is an expert in aviation and maintains a broad interest in a variety of other subjects. Sign in to your Simple Flying account Ranking the pay of air force pilots in NATO countries is challenging for a host of reasons, although useful comparisons can be made. All fast jet pilots in NATO air forces are commissioned officers and are paid as commissioned officers. However, pay generally depends on rank and years of service, while allowances, bonuses, pensions, and other incentives can change the total take-home pay considerably. Even the tax structure of the country can change the picture considerably, although it's beyond the scope of this article to compare taxes. For the sake of comparing apples-to-apples, this article will compare pilots with the rank of Captain (O-3) and their NATO equivalents. Pay is also converted into US dollars, although it should be noted that currency movements can also distort the rankings. Currency movements can alter rankings without the pay actually changing in any meaningful way. Emphasis is on base pay, though even this is tricky. It is also worth noting that if Switzerland were on this list, it would top it. However, Switzerland is not part of NATO and so is excluded. 6 Royal Norwegian Air Force Approximately $70,000 up to $99,000 annually Credit: US Air Force The Royal Norwegian Air Force is ranked sixth here because it is known that its pilots are comparatively highly paid within NATO, but there is increased uncertainty as to exactly what that is. The Norwegian Armed Forces do not publish a clean pilot-specific 2026 salary table, unlike the English-speaking countries and some other NATO air forces. With that being said, it is known that advertised base salaries for an OF-2 Captain (Kaptein) are around $69,000, depending on position and qualifications. The Norwegian Armed Forces explicitly say placement within the range depends on experience, qualifications, and seniority. So a working basic pay for a Norwegian fighter pilot with the equivalent rank of Captain is around $70,000, but adding in some other basic pay, a Norwegian pilot might expect to have a base salary of around $84,000 to $99,000 in mind. It's worth noting that Norway has a nominal GDP per capita of approximately $105,877, and it would be reasonable to assume that a qualified, experienced Norwegian pilot would not be below that figure. Separately, Norway is notable for being the first country to complete its program of record and has received all of its 52 F-35As and was the first country to fully transition from the F-16 to the F-35. 5 Royal Danish Air Force Approximately $64,800 or $102,500 annually Credit: Danish Armed Forces For Denmark, the base pay picture is quite interesting and complicated because the Danish system has a very large pilot-specific supplement. A Danish Air Force Captain (kaptajn, OF-2) with six years' service would likely be placed in pay group 4, linked to academic pay scale 6. An important part of a Danish pilot's pay is the pilot function allowance, and Denmark has just agreed further improvements for officers in the 2026 collective bargaining round: the captain officer allowance. Danish pilots are paid in Danish kroner (DKK). Assuming a conversion rate of DKK 6.4 to the US dollar, the base pay for a six-year captain is around $64,800 annually, while the pilot-adjusted regular pay is around $102,500. ​​​​​​The Danish air force is one of the smaller air forces in Europe and currently has a fleet of 23 F-35As (some of which are held back in the US for training). Denmark is soon set to complete its initial order for 27 F-35s, but is planning to increase this to 43. Denmark has now fully retired its legacy fleet of F-16AM fighters, selling many to Argentina and donating most of the remainder to Ukraine. If it is assumed that Denmark has 1.5 pilots for each fighter jet, then it may currently only have a cadre of around 40 fighter jet pilots. 4 Royal Air Force (United Kingdom) Approximately $82,997 or $108,500 annually Credit: RAF The RAF's website states that "Entry rate of pay from day one is £35,900 ($48,500). On promotion to the rank of Flight Lieutenant, pay increases to £50,500+ ($68,000+). Further pay rises are dependent on promotion and time served." RAF Flight Lieutenant (OF-2) is considered the counterpart to a US Air Force Captain with a base pay of £61,474 ($82,997). The 2026 AFPRB report sets the Professional Supplement (Aircrew) for OF2 at £19,394 ($26,000) per year. As such, the base pay is either $82,997 or $108,500, depending on what is meant by 'base pay.' Curiously, the RAF has a section on its website for RAF officers working from home under the benefits of being employed by the force. It says that: "Working from home allows you to carry out your work at home, or another location. This can help to give you flexibility to combine work and personal commitments. Working from home can either be done on an ad hoc or regular basis. As with all longer-term flexible working requests, an agreement is required which must be formalised in writing." It's unclear how much this would benefit a pilot who needs to physically be in an aircraft flying it. The RAF only has 107 Eurofighter Typhoons and F-35B Lightning II fighter jets in service, although it has one of the largest pools of trained pilots in NATO. The RAF is estimated to have around 1,500 pilots, making it roughly 12% the size of the USAF's pool of pilots. 3 Royal Netherlands Air Force Approximately $85,500 annually Credit: Department of Defense Unlike the figures for Norwegian pilots, it is comparatively easy to present the salaries of the Royal Netherlands Air Force, as the Dutch Ministry of Defense publishes the military salary table. A Dutch Air Force Captain (kapitein, OF-2) is on the same salary scale as Army and Air Force officers. A captain at step six is paid €5,265.90 monthly or €63,191 annually: this is around $73,000 base pay in a year. However, the Dutch also separate a holiday allowance and a year-end allowance that would typically be included by other organizations in the base pay: this boosts the base pay to €73,300 or around $85,500. As with other professional air forces, other allowances and bonuses push this up higher, but for this article, the base pay is $85,000. Select top-paid NATO air forces Reasonable range of trained pilots (per USAF) US Air Force 12,500 to 14,000 Royal Air Force 1,400 to 1,600 Royal Canadian Air Force 1,300 to 1,500 Royal Netherlands Air Force 300 to 400 Royal Norwegian Air Force 220 to 280 Royal Danish Air Force 150 to 200 The Netherlands is another air force that has fully transitioned from the F-16 to the F-35A and is in the process of receiving the final F-35s that it ordered. It has ordered a total of 58 F-35As. It is also worth noting that the Netherlands occupies a sort of middle ground within Europe. While it is much smaller than its UK, Germany, and France neighbors, it is also not small and has a much larger population and military budget than small states like Denmark. 2 Royal Canadian Air Force Approximately $93,215 annually Credit: Department of Defense A Royal Canadian Air Force captain with six years of pay has a very similar base pay compared with their USAF counterparts and more than any other NATO air force in Europe. These pilots are in their mid-scale increments and earn around $95,000 annually in base pay. According to the Canadian Government, pilots are paid CAD 10,825 per month for their sixth year of service. This is, as the government puts it, "basic monthly pay and annual pay increments one through 20, effective April 1, 2025." CAD 10,825 monthly works out to $93,215 annually, and puts it within $500 of equivalent USAF pay as of the time of writing. Given currency movements and disregarding factors like tax, pensions, bonuses, and allowances, this basically means that the pay is tied. With that being said, once other incentives are added, US captains may earn more than their northern counterparts. The Canadian pilot pay scale has 20 increments. It is also important to note that the Canadian figure is so high because Canada's pilot pay scale is specifically differentiated from ordinary captain pay. A comparison using ordinary captain's salaries would substantially understate Canadian pilots' compensation. 1 United States Air Force Approximately $92,844 annually Credit: US Air Force Overall, the United States Air Force likely has the highest-paid Captains (O-3 in NATO), or at least they are very near the top, depending on currency movements, etc. A captain in the US Air Force can expect to have a base pay of $85,000 to $105,000 annually, depending on the years of service. In the USAF, pilots holding the O-3 rank typically have three to eight years of service, as they are typically promoted from O-2 after around two to four years of service. According to the US Air Force calculator, an O-3 Captain with six years of experience earns $7,737 in base pay monthly, which works out to $92,844 annually. If the pay is adjusted for bonuses, allowances, and other benefits, the total compensation could rise much higher, although it does depend on what is being included. The amount can change depending on the flight community and which are being prioritized for pilot retention bonuses. Given that some pilots listed above have some allowances optionally factored in as this is essentially regular pay, it may be good to mention that USAF captains can earn up to $50,000 in retention bonuses alone. This alone can dramatically increase the base pay, and it highlights a big issue with comparing pilot incomes across countries.