Defense spending

The transition from Biden to Trump is set to be more turbulent than most given the scale of policy divergence, but how will defense spending be affected?

The UK plans to boost defense spending by an additional £2.9 billion ($3.7 billion) in 2025-2026, Chancellor Rachel Reeves says.

The Turkish government has announced a further increase to its 2025 defense budget, pushing spending to its highest level against GDP for 17 years.

Assuming Norway's new budget is approved, the country's defense spending will have expanded by 52.8% in nominal terms over the last three years.

Russia's illegal annexation of Crimea in 2014 followed by its full-scale invasion of Ukraine launched in 2022 has driven NATO's European members to significantly boost defense spending.

A period of extraordinary growth in Swedish military spending is set to be extended as NATO's newest member continues to modernize.

UK Defense Secretary John Healey has reiterated the new Labour government’s commitment to increasing defense spending to the equivalent of 2.5% of GDP.

The Japanese Defense Ministry (MOD) has released details of its fiscal 2025 budget request, which called for a further 9.4% increase to military spending—part of Tokyo’s wider Defense Build-Up Program (DBP).

In 2024 average defense expenditure among NATO members has surpassed guideline levels for the first time this century.

After significant investments, notably in new fleets of Eurofighter Typhoons and Super Hornets, Kuwait's defense spending has slowed.

Seoul's latest defense budget increase will likely represent a marginal real-terms cut once inflation is factored in.

A draft budget suggests the Indonesian Defense Ministry is set to benefit from the stance of president-elect Prabowo Subianto who took office earlier this year.

As European states have moved to bolster defense budgets in response to Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, no country has done more than Poland.

While Taiwan's defense spending has been rising in recent years, officials have acknowledged that next year will represent the peak of Taipei's defense spending—at least in the medium term.

After elections, France is set for a period of political instability, but in terms of defense spending the result may not be quite so destabilizing.

Security concerns, not least apprehension over China's intentions, are driving new defense spending dynamics in the Asia-Pacific region.

Seoul's investment in domestically developed systems and technologies is set to expand South Korea’s rapidly growing footprint in global defense export markets.

Few nations have done more to boost themselves since the 2022 invasion of Ukraine than Sweden—NATO's newest member is already spending 2% of GDP on defense.

A fully costed, decade-long spending plan from the Australian Defense Department lays out its priorities in the coming years.

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak's plan to raise the UK defense budget to “a new baseline” 2.5% of GDP by 2030 contains a crucial caveat.

Executives from BAE Systems, Leonardo, MBDA and Rolls-Royce argue that the UK should not rely on other nations when it comes to defense procurement.

Labour has now joined the Conservatives in pledging to raise defense spending to 2.5% of GDP, but woolly caveats and an impending election leave doubts.

Traditionally when increased regional tensions and high oil prices coincide, defense spending in the Middle East and North Africa tends to see robust growth.

Spending on defense has increased at an average rate of 5.4% in real terms in the three years since 2021.

Combined spending on procurement and RDT&E will reach 36.6% of overall U.S. defense spending in fiscal 2027, a level not seen since the end of the Cold War.