10.2.1.  Scale of forces, equipment and support spending

The UK has the fourth largest national defence expenditure in the world with net cash expenditure in 2007-08 of £33.5bn117 ($66bn118). With a defence budget of $660bn, equivalent to the next 45 highest spending nations combined, the US has the largest budget, followed by China ($145bn) and Russia ($85bn), as shown in Figure 10-1.

Defence expenditure (2007)

Note: *Data for the USA including funding for ongoing military operations and nuclear weapons

Source: Centre for Arms Control and Non-Proliferation; IMF; Review team analysis

Figure 10-1: Defence expenditure for the top fourteen countries (2008)

UK defence expenditure represents 2.3% of national GDP. As can be seen in Table 10-1, this is significantly less than the equivalent proportion in the USA (4.6%), marginally less than France (2.4%), but more than both Italy (1.8%) and Germany (1.3%).

UK spending on equipment spending in 2007 was 23% of defence expenditure119, comparable to the proportions in US (26%), France (21%) and Australia (18%).

In 2007 the MoD had a combined military and civilian manpower of 294,000, just less than those of the equivalent organisations in France and Japan.

Country

Military expenditure (2007*)

Equipment expenditure (2007*)

Number of active projects

Average project*** cost (£bn)

Average project*** duration (mnths)

Man-power ('000 s) 2007

 

 

$bn*

% of GDP

$bn**

% of Defence

All

Of over £200m

 

 

 

 

 

 

UK

66

2.3%

15^

23%

118

39

1.0

63

294

USA

66

4.6%

171

26%

n/a

95

9.5

n/a

2,042

France

63

2.4%

14

21%

n/a

n/a

n/a

n/a

c.360 (troops only)

Germany

44

1.3%

6

15%

n/a

n/a

n/a

n/a

c.400

Japan

43

1.0%

7

17%

37

4

0.05

n/a

331^^

South Korea^^^

28

2.5%

9

33%

n/a

n/a

n/a

n/a

c.680 (troops only)

Canada

16

1.1%

2

15%

n/a

n/a

n/a

n/a

92

Australia

15

1.5%

3

18%

406

16

0.5

n/a

66

Note: * Fiscal year in which most months fall in 2007. Australia is average of 06/07 and 07/08, corresponding to calendar year; ** Real US FY09; *** Based on publically available project data (i.e., US 96 projects, Australia 30 projects, Japan 37 projects); ^ For consistency of sources, NATO figures are used. Note these are different from the £6bn spending on the EPP. ^^ 2008 figure; ^^^ 2006 figure

Source: Centre for Arms Control and Non-Proliferation; IMF; SIPRI military expenditure database; NATO; CMIS; DASA; National Departments of Defence; Review team analysis

Table 10-1: Overview of key international military acquisition programmes




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117  MoD Annual Report 2007-08, p294

118  In real terms FY09 US Dollars

119  UK data expressed on a like basis with other countries. Use of consistent source data for international comparisons leads to some inconsistency with known UK data.