Global Defence Expenditure: According to recent statistics, global defence spending on everything from nuclear weapons to ammunition has increased by 9% to a record $2.2 trillion (£1.7 trillion) from a year earlier. This spending is expected to climb further in 2024 as the globe enters “a more dangerous period.”
According to the International Institute for Strategic Studies’ (IISS) Tuesday assessment on the balance of global military power, Russia—which is embroiled in a war with Ukraine—allocates more than 30% of yearly government expenditure to its armed forces.
According to the report, the Russian military has lost around 3,000 main battle tanks in Ukraine, which is about the number they had prepared for deployment before to the full-scale invasion that took place two years ago. Moscow is currently “trading quality for quantity” by using its stockpile of equipment to make up for losses.
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NATO and China have both contributed to the increase in investment.
According to the data, NATO members have increased their total defence spending by about a third over the previous ten years, even when the United States is excluded because it possesses the strongest military in the world. Vladimir Putin’s initial invasion of Crimea in 2014 was the catalyst for this increase.
However, it issued a warning that despite decades of defence cuts, “glaring gaps” in capabilities still existed. Over the weekend, Donald Trump incited controversy by criticising most of his European NATO partners as well as Canada for not meeting the minimal requirement of allocating at least 2% of GDP to defence. He threatened to launch strikes on those members who did not make adequate investments in their military forces.
The US and Europe are reportedly increasing their production of missiles and ammunition once more, with a renewed emphasis on air defence and artillery systems. These sectors had been ignored since the end of the Cold War, with stockpiles and industrial capacity being depleted. The think tank IISS reported this.
Global Defence Expenditure
According to IISS, countries, including China and Russia, are also concentrating on cutting-edge technology like unmanned weapons like unmanned attack boats, which Ukraine uses to great effect against Russia’s Black Sea Fleet, and hypersonic missiles, which travel more than five times faster than the speed of sound and are extremely difficult to intercept.
In a statement made before to the annual Military Balance publication, the think tank stated, “Nuclear weapons are also very much back on the agenda, with China adding missile silos and the United States modernising warheads and delivery systems.”
The study, which examines the condition of every military in the globe, is in its 65th year.
Military spending jumps 9% to £1.7trn
The globe “has entered a more dangerous period in the last 12 months,” according to the think group.
This occurred in the context of the protracted battle in Ukraine, the Middle East war between Israel and Hamas, and the escalating hostilities between the West and China.
According to the think tank, the Chinese Communist Party is showing signs of increasing its ability to project power; as a result, the West and other military in Asia are working together more closely to counter this danger.
It also emphasised Iran’s growing sway, as seen by the sale of Iranian suicide drones to Russia, which are being used devastatingly in Ukraine, and the provision of Iranian anti-ship missiles to Houthi rebels in Yemen who are assaulting Red Sea ships.
“Global defence spending is up 9% from the previous year and poised to rise further in 2024, based on already announced spending commitments,” according to the IISS.
The International Institute for Strategic Studies’ director-general and chief executive, Bastian Giegerich, stated: “The IISS Military Balance is issued at a critical moment when the rules-based system is being increasingly questioned.
“While Western defence spending is rising and plans to revamp equipment are ongoing, we reflect on the challenges including those set by Russia’s ongoing invasion of Ukraine, China’s military modernisation and events in the Middle East.”
