- Global defence spending rises
- Shifts in military dynamics
- Lessons from Ukraine conflict
A British military think tank reported a 9% increase in global defence spending to $2.2 trillion last year. This pattern is projected to continue into 2024 because to Israel’s Gaza war, Ukraine’s conflict, and Indo-Pacific tensions.
Increasing unease in the Arctic, North Korea’s pursuit of nuclear weapons, concerns over China, and the rise of military regimes in the Sahel region of Africa were also cited in a report published on Tuesday by the International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS) in London as factors contributing to the world entering “a highly volatile security environment.”
“The current military-security situation portends what is likely to be a more perilous decade, marked by the brazen use of military force to pursue claims by some,” stated the annual report that the IISS has been publishing annually for the past six decades and counting.
The report further states that the United States and Europe are increasing production of missiles and ammunition “after decades of underinvestment” in response to the “era of insecurity” that is reshaping the global defence industrial landscape.
Due to NATO member nations’ responses to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, global military spending reached a record $2.2 trillion. The institute discovered that non-US members of the alliance have increased their military expenditures. They have risen by 32% since Russia’s invasion of the Crimean Peninsula in Ukraine in 2014.
Trump’s NATO Financial Ultimatum
Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump stated days before the report that he had previously threatened to “encourage” the leader of an unnamed NATO member to do “whatever the hell they want” in Russia if the country failed to meet its financial obligations to the military alliance.
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“You are required to pay. You must pay your bills,” Trump stated on Saturday at a campaign rally in South Carolina.
From two members in 2014 to ten members in 2018, the alliance achieved its objective. It allocated 2 percent of its gross domestic product (GDP) towards defence. The expenditures of 19 members increased last year, according to IISS data.
The report stated, “Russia’s actions have revitalised NATO, and Finland will complete its rapid alliance accession process in April 2023.” “At this time, Russia has extended its border with NATO members by over 1,300 kilometres (800 miles).”
It was stated in the report that Iran’s provision of drones to Russia demonstrated the country’s expanding influence in conflict zones. Missiles were also provided to Houthi militants in Yemen.
It was further stated that China had exhibited “increased power-projection capability.”
Compared to twenty years ago, the conflicts are not only overlapping but also involving a greater number of non-Western nations, according to Samir Puri, a visiting lecturer in war studies at King’s College London.
“The West led a military operation comparable to that of conventional armed forces, not insurgents,” Puri told. “Twenty years later, a much broader spectrum of nations are engaged in conflicts. Saudi Arabia and others, in particular, have become considerably more interventionist and active,” Puri explained.
Increasing tensions in Asia, where nations are fortifying themselves for deterrence purposes, and the rising demand for cutting-edge technologies such as unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) and global positioning systems (GPS) are also driving defence expenditures.
“Everything else that requires substantial expenditures on research and development,” Puri continued.
Russia has lost approximately 3,000 main battle tanks during the fighting in Ukraine, or roughly as many as it had in its active inventory prior to the full-scale invasion beginning in February 2022, according to one of the report’s primary findings.
In contrast to Moscow’s strategic restockpile of 2,000 aged tanks from storage, the Ukrainian government is dependent on ammunition and armaments supplied by Western nations in order to sustain resistance against its more formidable neighbour.
The IISS reports that military strategy in other states is being affected by Ukraine lessons. Many governments have realised they must enhance military gear production and stockpiling in case of a lengthy war.
