$2 trillion.. Thus, the war in Ukraine doubled Western military spending

London

- The Ukrainian war prompted many European countries to modernize their military doctrine, by abandoning the policy of reducing military spending that was followed, which included not sending weapons abroad to participate in burning battles.

A year after this war, the military expenditures of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) and its allied countries skyrocketed, and interest in strengthening European armies and acquiring weapons became a priority for Western countries more than ever before, as the world had not seen since the Cold War. – Thus, he raced in armaments, in light of the announcement of huge increases in defense budgets for the next five years.

Western reports revealed an increase in NATO's military spending of up to 14% by 2026 (French)

Rocket rise

In a study by the McKinsey Research Institute on the impact of the Ukraine war on the military spending of NATO countries in addition to Sweden, Finland and Australia, it appears that these expenditures would have increased in 2021 from $296 billion to $337 billion in 2026, an increase of 14% if The Ukrainian war did not break out.

As for after the outbreak of the war, the center’s expectations indicate an increase in military expenditures during the same period by 53%, bringing the increase to at least $453 billion annually. As for the highest expectation that the center sets, it is an increase in military spending to about half a trillion dollars annually in European countries. alone by 2026.

Accordingly, the total amount that NATO countries will spend - in addition to Sweden, Australia and Finland - on defense, will increase from $ 1.6 trillion to more than $ 2 trillion by 2026, according to the McKinsey Institute.

Cold War mistakes

After the end of the Cold War, many countries, especially European countries, reduced their military expenditures while getting rid of their old military equipment without replacing it with newer equipment, which made these countries far from the level of armaments they had during the Cold War, which aroused anger. The United States, which believes that the Europeans made a mistake when they reduced their military expenditures for many years.

In the context, when talking about the numbers of tanks that European countries had - including Turkey - during the Cold War, their total was in the range of 18,941 tanks, while the number has now decreased to 4,362 tanks, a decrease of 77%, and the number of aircraft The combat aircraft decreased from 3,660 aircraft during the Cold War to 1,586 aircraft, a decrease of about 57%.

Going to warships, their numbers decreased from 180 to 109 ships in 2022, with a decrease of 39%, at a time when the number of submarines decreased from 107 to 57 submarines across Europe, a decrease of 47%, and clearly all these numbers indicate a significant decline in European military capabilities, while Russia, the United States and China continued to increase military spending.

The combat capability of European armies declined with varying proportions in weapons and ammunition after the Cold War (Getty Images)

military expenditures

The war in Ukraine prompted many European countries to abandon the complex of low military spending in Europe, amounting to 2%, especially with the repeated US demands for NATO countries to raise their military expenditures to more than 2% of the GDP of these countries.

Despite this, many countries still face difficulty in reaching this spending rate. According to NATO statistics, 9 out of 30 countries in the alliance reached a spending rate of 2% in 2022, taking into account that the volume of military spending of the NATO countries During the same year, it amounted to about $1.05 trillion, which is the highest rate of spending recorded in more than 20 years.

Adult return

The biggest shift brought about by the war in Ukraine was the change in Germany's position on military spending and the increase in weapons manufacturing. Berlin announced - shortly after the start of the Russian war in Ukraine - the allocation of $100 billion for military expenditures, which France followed by declaring spending $400 billion between Years 2024 and 2030, and Britain had announced the allocation of 3% of GDP for military spending by 2030.

At the same level, Poland has emerged as the largest European country in terms of military spending, after it revealed an increase in military expenditures and its allocation of 4% of GDP to the defense budget, equivalent to $100 billion, which constitutes the highest percentage among all NATO countries.

European armies seek to increase military spending on their armies after US criticism (Reuters)

Readiness problem

NATO's problems do not stop at the numbers of military parts, but rather extend to the actual readiness of combat vehicles, as European armies face a major dilemma represented by the fact that much of their military equipment needs maintenance or is out of service, according to the McKinsey Center, which chose to measure the readiness of weapons in 3 armies European countries (France, Germany and Italy), then there is a big problem in the ability of these armies to use all their equipment.

For France, only 58% of military helicopters are in active service, in addition to only 64% of the fleet of combat aircraft that can be relied upon, 73% of the total number of tanks, and 62% of warships and submarines.

In Germany, helicopters ready for use do not exceed 40%, in addition to 65% of warplanes, 71% of tanks, and 72% of warships and submarines, while Italy is the worst in this field with the possibility of working only 36% of helicopters. entered into service, in addition to 63% of the tanks capable of participating in hostilities and 66% of warships and submarines.