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The military budget of the USSR, USA, China and Russia: Compare Figures

The military budget of the USSR, USA, China and Russia: Compare Figures

The size of appropriations for defense spending has always been a "sore point" in our country as for conditional "liberals", and for no less conventional "patriots". true, at the same time, they approached its consideration and assessment from diametrically opposite positions.

first, usually, reduced their point of view to, that the country is "wasting colossal funds for militarization", seeing this as the undoubted root of all economic and social problems. The second, as easy to guess, pointed to it, that the cost of the army in Russia, unlike the USSR, are "completely inadequate" as compared to her most likely opponents (NATO countries), so with the same China.

However, recently the baton was intercepted by "representatives of the democratic community", undertaking to assert, that our country has nothing to do and try to enter into serious geopolitical disputes and conflicts - with its "meager military budget". So who is right after all?

It depends on how you count

Let's start off with, that the mind-boggling figures of "huge expenditures on the army and the military-industrial complex" repeatedly quoted in various domestic media, allegedly taking place in the Soviet Union and "undermining its economy", do not correspond to the truth at all. However, like the vast majority of anti-Soviet "horror stories", generated in bad memory times of "perestroika" and repeated like sacred mantras by its "foremen".

Here are the three most common and well-known options.

USSR Foreign Minister Eduard Shevardnadze spoke about 19% gross national product (GNP, not to be confused with GDP!) the USSR, going to the needs of defense. Mikhail Gorbachev “rounded up” this figure to 20%. The Chief of the General Staff of the Soviet Army, General of the Army Vladimir Lobov, outdid them both, publicly stating, that the "military moloch" devours a third of the country's GNP, if not more!

The Americans, who perfectly heard what he said, immediately calculated: the percentage announced by the chief staff officer looked like 260 billion rubles (if we take prices 1988 of the year). At the official exchange rate - over 300 billions of dollars!

United States defense spending during that time period fluctuated within 250-280 billion per year, so it sounded quite authentic. But it was absolutely not true.. This is partly proven by the fact, that the "perestroika" who got hold of the government, which began to "reduce" (but in fact, just to ruin) domestic defense industry, no economic financial and economic problems in general were solved by this. in front of, spawned them above the roof.

However, and in the United States itself, analysts from the Central Intelligence Agency, who were instructed to assess the size of the defense costs of the Soviet Union and their share in the country's budget, counted Shevardnadze's numbers, Gorbachev and Lobov unscientific fiction. In the CIA, by the way, from the 50s of the last century to the collapse of the USSR, there was a special SKAM program, whose purpose was exclusively to determine the share of military spending in the Soviet GNP. Spent on its implementation from 5 to 10 billions of dollars (According to various estimates). so here, the sweaty analysts from Langley were able to, that in reality the Soviets spent up to 12% GNP in the 70s and before 15% - in the 80's. When the tseerushniki tried to comprehend the difference between the official exchange rate of the ruble against the dollar, published in the newspaper "Izvestia", and the real ratio of the two currencies according to their purchasing power, their brains just boiled.

The military budget of the USSR, USA, China and Russia: Compare Figures

To smugglers Ukraine intended to sell components to the Soviet military equipment: assumptions

So how was it really? According to the most credible data, the official military budget of the Soviet Union in the period from 1968 by 1984 year was about 17 billions of dollars (with slight fluctuations over the years). AT 1985-1987 year it increased to 19-20 billions. AT 1989 year Mikhail Gorbachev approved defense spending in 77 more than billion rubles. It is extremely difficult to recalculate the then rubles into dollars., I will leave it to those who wish to do it on their own. United States military spending, as mentioned above, significantly exceeded 200 billion per year. So what, we spent "on guns" in 10 times fewer Americans?! Let's not rush to conclusions.

MIC of Russia: risen from the ashes?

It is no coincidence that I emphasized, that the above figures are official. There were plenty of ways in the USSR, which they, so to speak, adjusted, so as not to jeopardize the image of the most peaceful state on the planet. Just one example: the missiles were a product of the Ministry of Mechanical Engineering, and the warships went through the shipbuilding department. USSR is not the USA, military products produced for them by other sectors of the national economy were not redeemed there, and received. According to more objective data, real military expenditures of the Soviet Union during the period 1985-1991 years ranged from 260 to 319 billions of dollars, United States - from to 258 to 306. Here is a very real military-strategic parity for you., which really existed.

Alas, with the collapse of a great and mighty country, the ratio began to change rapidly - not in our favor, of course. Russia's military budget with 1992 by 1995 years collapsed with 142 to 40 billions of dollars, Americans, however, continued to remain at the same level. What happened next, I will not paint: what is the point of repeating common knowledge, practically axioms? There was a real pogrom of the military-industrial complex and the collapse of the armed forces in the country, after which the defense industry had to rise from the ashes and ruins like the fabulous Phoenix bird. "Countdown" began after Vladimir Putin came to the Kremlin. Whether someone likes this statement or not, but figures and facts are stubborn things. In order not to wander in the wilds and avoid misunderstandings, in the future, I will cite statistics according to generally accepted estimates of the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI). According to the data announced by its experts, Russia's military budget grew from 34,5 billion dollars in 2006 godu to 90,4 in 2013. Now he is about 46 billion.

Further, surprisingly for some domestic and foreign experts, there was a decrease in the country's defense spending. AT 2018 year, according to the same SIPRI, he made 61,4 billion. How so? The United States has ramped up spending on the Pentagon in recent years at an unprecedented rate - 649 billion dollars in 2019 year and expected 738 at 2020! China in recent 20 years has increased the amount invested in defense by 850% - from 20 to 170 billion per year! At the same time, many analysts tend to consider, what, as in the Soviet Union, the figures officially announced by Beijing do not closely reflect the true volumes of costs. Our country somehow imperceptibly "dropped out" from the firmly held third position in the SIPRI rating, skipping ahead of India, France and even Saudi Arabia. What is it? Foreshadowing a new disaster for the army or, in front of, indicator of that, that we finally learned how to spend people's money wisely, without wasting them or investing in expensive dummies? There is no need to talk about the decline or stagnation of the Russian military-industrial complex - after all, a number of countries (including the same China) buy our S-400 air defense systems, we are not someone's. The same situation with other air defense systems., aviation, armored vehicles. Huge budgets are not at all a 100% guarantee that, that money from them will not be stolen or wasted (materials about completely failed Pentagon projects, costing hundreds of millions, if not in billions, there are plenty of). There is one more thing to keep in mind.: USA and China - countries with huge GDP. As a percentage of that, we spend about the same on the army, how many americans (about 3%) and even less, than the Chinese comrades, officially below 2%.

The country will be richer - perhaps, military spending will increase again (if need be). Anyway then, that in previous years Russia did not spare money for its security, properly, and made it possible to exist as a sovereign state today.

Alexander Haraluzhny

A source

                          
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