Blake Hall
The United States military budget is nearly as much as the next 14 countries’ budgets combined. Yeah, combined.
Something a big time American general pointed out Tuesday.
He, Air Force Gen. Paul Selva, “took umbrage” to the rhetoric that the U.S. military had been “gutted”, or was in any way “in decline”, something politicians in the recent caucuses were blowing all over Iowa and New Hampshire. He also noted that after more than 30 years as a service member he was “confident” that America had the finest fighting force on the globe.
To Selva’s point, check out this Washington Post chart, which makes U.S. military dominance visual and clear.
The Post did include a caveat to this chart, however:
The report did find, however, that there is a catch. New technologies mean that the West in general and the United States in particular are losing their technological edge, the report found. Countries such as Russia and China have been showcasing new systems and technological advances that show the balance of power may be shifting.
The 2016 Military Balance report examines closely, for example, Russia’s modernization of its armored fighting vehicles and China’s new ballistic missile systems, as well as the less traditional problem of deterrence in cyberspace.
“Access to military-relevant high technologies is growing and this leveling of the technological playing field presents governments with a challenge not just to keep pace with the latest technology and monitor its proliferation but also cope with the blurred boundaries between civil and military technologies and offensive and defensive military systems,” John Chipman, director general and chief executive of IISS, said at the launch of the Military Balance 2016 report in London.
“Western military technological superiority, a core assumption of the past two decades, is eroding,” Chipman added.