Quote:
Originally Posted by Matt W
I don't think you should panic
U.S. military budget
2000: $375 billion
2002: $425 billion
2004: $527 billion
2006: $561 billion
2008: $618 billion
2010: $687 billion
2012: $705 billion
2013: $662 billiion
As far as I can work out, the ambition is to cut defence spending back to something like 2004 levels (and hoping to achieve this by 2022)
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I think that Matt W has made a very good point here - the reduction in US Military spending is very significant but it is less than the increases that occured a number of years ago and the level it is falling to is still something like 50% higher than when the War on Terror started.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Matt W
This document outlines the strategy. Basically,
1. There will be no US troops getting blown up in Afghanistan (an unimportant place which is economically worthless to the US).
2. There will be fewer troops in Europe (which - although important - isn't particularly worried about any military threats)
3. There will be more US military personnel doing useful things in Asia/Pacific (which is hugely important to the US economy and includes North Korea and China)
http://www.defense.gov/news/Defense_...c_Guidance.pdf |
Just with regard to point 2 above I actually don't understand why there are still significant numbers of US military personnel in Europe. I can see there would be some to pilot, service and protect aircraft that are based in Europe but what is the need to keep US ground forces in Europe? Is Russia and/or other parts of Eastern Europe still seen as a potential threat?
Likewise the British Army still have a significant number of troops in Germany and with our commitments in Afganistan I can't understand the reason. The government announced in 2010 that these troops would withdraw from Germany by 2020 but I don't understand why there is the delay.
Is there an economic impact here of having US and British troops (and possibly others - I don't really know) stationed in mainland Europe, i.e. those troops spend a lot of money in the local communites they are based in and so the hosting countries would rather they withdraw gradually? Or is that a rediclious suggestion?