DefenceTalkWorld military expenditure totalled $1.75 trillion in 2012, a fall of 0.5 per cent in real terms since 2011, according to figures released today by Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI). The comprehensive annual update of the SIPRI Military Expenditure Database is accessible from today at www.sipri.org. The fall—the first since 1998—was driven by major […]https://www.defencetalk.com/world-military-spending-falls-but-china-russias-spending-rises-47478/

DefenceTalkThe world spent less on weapons and military services in 2012 than the year before, the first annual drop since 1998, a Swedish think tank said on Monday. But despite the overall decrease, driven mainly by budget cuts in the Western countries, China and Russia both boosted spending last year, the Stockholm International Peace Research […]https://www.defencetalk.com/world-spends-less-on-military-sipri-47470/

DefenceTalkIn the wake of sequestration, the Air Force officially suspended military tuition assistance March 11. Secretary of the Air Force Michael Donley announced the Air Force has officially suspended military TA for the remainder of fiscal 2013. The program will continue to be evaluated to determine the way ahead in fiscal 2014. The Defense Department’s […]https://www.defencetalk.com/air-force-suspends-military-tuition-assistance-47138/

DefenceTalkChina will increase its defense budget by 10 percent this year. The country’s growing military spending is a trend that has many of its neighbors worried. Beijing sees the increase as natural. China has planned a defense budget for the year 2013 that will total around 90 billion euros. That is an increase of 10.7 […]https://www.defencetalk.com/china-defends-military-expansion-47079/

DefenceTalkChina plans to raise its central government defense budget by 10.7 percent to 720.2 billion yuan (114.3 billion U.S. dollars) in 2013, according to a budget report submitted to the national legislature for review on Tuesday. The military spending will be used to improve living and working conditions of service people, make the armed forces […]https://www.defencetalk.com/china-defense-budget-to-grow-10-7-in-2013-report-47066/

DefenceTalkLarge and sudden U.S. spending cuts and an unstable budget environment promise long-term damage to a critical segment of the defense industrial base, the Defense Department’s top maintenance official recently told a congressional panel. John Johns, deputy assistant secretary of defense for maintenance policy and programs, testified last week before the House Armed Services readiness […]https://www.defencetalk.com/budget-cuts-threaten-defense-industrial-base-official-says-47050/

DefenceTalkBeggars can’t be choosers. When a government accumulates trillion-dollar deficits year after year, eventually there is a day of reckoning. For the U.S. military, that day is now. Although the Pentagon continues to see a global landscape brimming with security challenges, it appears the political system has stopped listening. Or perhaps it just prefers the […]https://www.defencetalk.com/defense-downturn-which-missions-will-go-away-47055/

DefenceTalkChina’s national legislature declined to announce the country’s 2013 defence budget at a press conference Monday, in a departure from normal practice the day before its annual session opens. Fu Ying, spokeswoman for the National People’s Congress (NPC), which begins Tuesday, responded with frustration when she was asked about military spending at a press conference […]https://www.defencetalk.com/china-legislature-declines-to-reveal-defence-spending-47045/

DefenceTalkChina’s military has introduced new rules to combat “extravagance and waste” in spending, state media said Sunday, as the country’s new leaders stress austerity to fight official corruption. New Communist Party chief Xi Jinping, who is also chairman of the Central Military Commission, approved the rules which aim to promote austerity and control expenditure, the […]https://www.defencetalk.com/china-takes-aim-at-extravagance-in-military-spending-46949/