Defense spending in Europe has taken a marked downward turn, according to figures released by the European Defense Agency (EDA) in September 2013, with investments being hit particularly hard. In 2011, total defense expenditures by EU member states—excluding Denmark, which has opted out of the EU's Common Security and Defense Policy, and Croatia, which became a member in mid-2013—fell by €1 billion to €192.5 billion ($265 billion), a drop of over 2%.
Japan's 2014 defense budget request asks for a 3% increase over the 2013 budget, continuing the sudden upward trend set in motion by the right-wing Prime Minister Shinzo Abe upon his December 2012 return to power. The previous center-left government planned a 1.3% decrease in defense spending, which had already seen 10 consecutive contractions since 2003.
Asia-Pacific nations are expected to spend about $1.4 trillion on military programs in 2013-18, an estimated 55% increase over the $919.5 billion the countries spent during 2008-12, according to an AW&ST analysis of data provided by Avascent Analytics.
Canada's armed forces, facing a familiar combination of a declining budget and aging fleets, have a third problem: a lack of public and political confidence in the nation's acquisition process after a series of failures and embarrassments, including a 28-year effort to replace naval Sea King helicopters that has already seen one program canceled, and a second one started that is now running at least four years late. The acquisition of four trouble-plagued ex-Royal Navy submarines has been another public problem.
India's defense budget for 2013-14 was a more modest expansion than the double-digit increases of previous years, reflecting slower economic growth. However, the budget is nonetheless heading toward the $50 billion mark, including an estimated $15 billion on new air platforms (for the air force and navy) in the next two years.
Under growing pressure to tighten budgets, France is slowing deliveries of major military equipment and stretching out development of new platforms over the next six years.
In 2014, the U.S. Army will select among four competing designs—two tiltrotors and two coaxial-rotors—for two high-speed rotorcraft it plans to fly in 2017 under the Joint Multi Role technology demonstration, a planned precursor to the Future Vertical Lift Medium program to replace first the Sikorsky UH-60 Black Hawk and later the Boeing AH-64 Apache beginning in 2035.
By this time next year, the last British combat troops should be leaving Afghanistan, ending more than a decade of combat operations in that theater. Those operations have reshaped the U.K. armed forces. The British Army's counter-insurgency strategy, codenamed Operation Entirety, has molded training, equipment and doctrine to prepare troops for the theater.
DEFENSE: Global hotspots and country-by-country analyses of national priorities, budgets and programs. See pages 38-47. MILITARY AVIATION: Rivals upgrade their combat aircraft as the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter begins to gain international traction. Special missions become a key part of transport market. See pages 58-67. UNMANNED AIRCRAFT: Europe finally may be getting its act together on UAS, but China and civil developments are moving faster. See page 68.
The German government's draft defense budget for 2014 is around €32.8 billion ($45 billion), a €400 million decrease compared to 2013. The budget will be reduced to around €32.1 billion by 2016 as the Bundeswehr—Germany's armed forces—reduces personnel in line with its transformation. End-strength has already been cut to near its planned maximum of 185,000.
Graham Warwick (Washington), Larry Dickerson (Forecast International)
Turkey's revelation in October that it was negotiating to buy air-defense systems from China shocked not only its NATO allies, but also Western missile manufacturers. Although not a done deal, Ankara says China's offer of CPMIEC FD-2000 anti-missile systems costs less and promises better technology transfer.
Israel's defense budget of approximately $15 billion puts the nation at 16th place in defense expenditure, after South Korea, Australia, Canada and Turkey, but ahead of the United Arab Emirates, Colombia, Spain and Pakistan. In terms of its estimated share of GDP, Israel's defense budget dropped from a double-digit level in the 1990s down to about 6% since 2010. Yet these statistics do not tell the full story.
Middle East defense needs are diversifying. Nations are going beyond new combat aircraft and weapons, seeking intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) and other assets, as well as increased participation in industrial and technical matters.
Russia's government does not plan to cut its military expenditures, even in the face of economic stagnation. The draft federal budgets for 2014 and for 2015-16, approved in the first reading by the State Duma at the end of October, continue to call for double-digit increases in spending on national defense despite the overall budget deficit planned for these years.
As Chinese and Russian air defense systems met notable milestones last year, the U.S. Ground-Based Missile Defense (GMD) system—the most sophisticated anti-missile system deployed—continued to produce disappointing test results. GMD overseers at the U.S. Missile Defense Agency hope to conduct a successful flight test of the system early in 2014; the last successful intercept took place in December 2008. A string of failures were due largely to complications with the new Raytheon Exoatmospheric Kill Vehicle (EKV); Boeing is the GMD prime contractor.
The entry and rapid success of the Robinson R66 in the light turbine helicopter market has sent shock waves through the industry. The bigger manufacturers were preoccupied with the growing light-twin market, and happy to leave Frank Robinson's hugely successful piston-engined R22 and R44 to dominate the general-aviation market. They had virtually rejected their light singles—many with designs roots in the 1960s and 70s—and all but starved them of investment.
