Asia security & defence

[neolithic]

Asian Military Spending Overtakes Europe's

Asia's military spending will exceed Europe's for the first time ever this year, according to a study released Wednesday by the International Institute for Strategic Studies. "While the West reduces its spending on defence, Asia is becoming increasingly militarised, as a result of rapid economic growth and strategic uncertainty," it said in a press release.

The main factor is the increase in China's military spending, which takes up 30 percent of the total in Asia. China's military expenditure in 2011 was 2.5 times bigger than the figure in 2001 and has been doubling every five years.

Due to territorial disputes in the South China Sea, "Australia, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam are all investing in improving air and naval capacities, as are India, Japan and South Korea," the IIS said.

It added, "China's leadership transition is expected to begin this year and, during leadership transitions, sensitive issues that impinge on questions of national sovereignty may be subject to particular attention. Naval competition in the South China Sea will likely continue and interested states will still pursue naval procurements."

Reuters cited IISS director-general John Chipman as saying, "There's no doubt we are seeing a major shift. What we see in Asia is just about every kind of strategic challenge -- from 19th century-style territorial disputes to economic rivalry and potential new nuclear weapons states ... We need to manage that."

However, the IISS sets no great store by Chinese military technology. "China's technological advances are more modest than some alarmist hypotheses of its military development have suggested," it said. "They represent nascent rather than actual capability. China, for example, does not yet have the capability to operate fixed-wing aircraft from a carrier. However, China's development of anti-satellite capacities, anti-ship ballistic missiles, cruise missiles, and cyber-warfare capabilities preoccupies foreign defence planners as much as its drive to boost major platform capability."

It added Beijing's "growing suite of modern platforms reinforces the gradual change in the balance of power across the Taiwan Strait. That said, the strategic priorities of the People's Liberation Army are gradually widening from the defence of China's borders to force projection within East Asia and further afield, in order to secure sea lanes of communication."

But the fact that Asia is spending more than Europe does not necessarily mean that its military prowess is greater as well, the IISS wrote. "The U.S. and other Western nations will look to maintain a qualitative and quantitative edge over states such as China through continued investment in research and development, as well as an emphasis on the quality and reliability of equipment, leadership and training."

Mar. 09, 2012


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[debashish_j20]

europeans are really smart,they are provoking asian countries to fight each other and they are making a good business out of their military equipments....we should come as one and focus more on eradicating poverty..

 

[neolithic]

Military forces in 2012 :

948 × 951 pixels


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[debashish_j20]

Military forces in 2012 :

948 × 951 pixels

china has no carrier in service and india has more than 700 aircrafts in service...so the info is wrong!!

 

[neolithic]

india has more than 700 aircrafts in service

Indian aircrafts crash frequently.

 

[debashish_j20]

Indian aircrafts crash frequently.

i am telling excluding that and mostly the old fleet of mig-21 crashes due to technical snags...after modification situation improved!

 

[Avisheik]

china has no carrier in service and india has more than 700 aircrafts in service...so the info is wrong!!

well if you include in the naval air arm then yes india does have more than 700 combat aircrafts (my source is wikipedia so might be wrong)

 

[debashish_j20]

well if you include in the naval air arm then yes india does have more than 700 combat aircrafts (my source is wikipedia so might be wrong)

gotch ya!! you have both neolithic and avieshiek as ur account??

 

[Avisheik]

gotch ya!! you have both neolithic and avieshiek as ur account??

nah bro i dont own neotithic's account. If i did own it the modswould have banned me by now

 

[neolithic]

Navies in East Asia :

Data source : ROK defence ministry


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[neolithic]

Military forces in 2012 :

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Place names in this map are in Japanese.

 

[neolithic]

Still-Vigorous Asian Budgets Focus on Naval, Air Forces

Oct. 24, 2012
By WENDELL MINNICK

TAIPEI — As European and U.S. defense budgets face aggressive cuts while their governments tackle massive debt, Asian countries are continuing to spend significant amounts on defense without signs of slowing.

The top five defense spenders in Asia — China, India, Japan, South Korea and Taiwan — captured 87 percent of Asian defense spending in 2011, according to a study released by the Defense-Industrial Initiatives Group under the Washington-based Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS).

The study, “Asian Defense Spending, 2000-2011,” indicates that the five spent a combined $224 billion in 2011, almost twice the amount spent by those same five countries in 2000. And there have been shifts among the top spenders.

“Until 2005, Japan had the largest defense budget in Asia. Since 2005, China has been the biggest spender on defense, having previously replaced India as the second-biggest spender in 2001,” the CSIS report says.

“Many nations in the Asia-Pacific, and especially in South and Southeast Asia, were focused for several years on developing internal power,” said Abraham Denmark, senior project director for political and security affairs at the Washington-based National Bureau of Asian Research.

“As states resolve domestic security and development problems, they are increasingly looking beyond their borders,” he said.

As internal security issues have been resolved or stabilized in China and India, both countries have spent more to recapitalize their Navy and Air Force. Both are becoming increasingly aware of the need to protect sea lanes of communication, secure fishing and oil rights, and face down new challenges over maritime territorial claims.

Japan, South Korea and Taiwan have bolstered their ballistic missile defenses with new Patriot Advanced Capability systems, long-range early warning radars, and improved command-and-control systems. All five are looking at stealthier options to replace fourth-generation fighters. China and India are pursuing indigenous development while Japan, South Korea and Taiwan are heavy favorites to buy the Lockheed Martin F-35.

The unanswered question the authors of the CSIS report are asking is whether defense spending in Asia will continue to climb, “with Asian defense spending projected to overtake that of Europe by the end of 2012,” or whether the same economic forces eating away at European and U.S. defense budgets will begin to do the same in Asia.

The report indicates that defense spending “visibly accelerated” after 2005.

“These steeper growth trajectories in recent years might be a precursor for continued significant increases in defense spending, especially in light of large, high-profile investment decisions such as India’s Medium Multi-Role Combat Aircraft (MMRCA) selection, Japan’s F-35 order, or South Korea’s F-X-3 multi-role fighter competition,” the report says.

Taiwan also has a requirement to replace aging Mirage 2000 and F-5 fighters within the next five to 10 years. The U.S. has denied a request for 66 F-16C/D fighters since 2006 and now Taipei is examining a possible bid for F-35s in 2020.

China has recently revealed two new fifth-generation fighter programs, the J-20 Black Eagle and the J-31 Falcon. China is also expected to invest additional funds to build three new aircraft carriers within the next five years, said analysts, and is aggressively developing the J-15 Flying Shark carrier-borne fighter for its future carrier fleet.

Between 2000 and 2011, China’s defense spending increased at the highest rate among the five countries, the CSIS report says, with an 11-year compounded annual growth rate of 13.4 percent. South Korea was the second fastest with a 4.8 percent rate, and India and Japan with 3.6 and 3.5 percent, respectively. Taiwan experienced the lowest increase in spending at 1.8 percent despite procuring more than $17 billion worth of new arms from the U.S.

South Korea will have to rethink its naval recapitalization efforts in the face of island territorial disputes with Japan and China’s increased naval activity in the region. Seoul has already shifted funds from the Army to the Air Force and Navy over the past five years, said Scott Harold, a Hong Kong-based Asia defense specialist with Rand Corp.

Japan is facing challenges from both China and South Korea over island disputes. At the same time, it is still reeling from a devastating tsunami that has shaken its political and economic foundations. With an aging population and higher taxes to cover its expenses, the military is moving to lift arms export restrictions to raise much-needed cash for future procurements.

India has been largely disappointed by the quality of its arms procurements from Russia, Harold said. The Russian aircraft carrier program has been a “disaster,” he said, and, for the next few years, India will focus on border problems with China and Pakistan, and securing control over the Indian Ocean, he said.

 

[neolithic]

Ballistic missiles of selected Asian countries and of Egypt : map in French :

Source.

 

[neolithic]

Navies of selected Asian countries as of 2013 : map in Japanese :

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