Author Archives: Dominic

With a Decreasing Buget, is Our Military Big Enough??

So far on this blog, I’ve talked about the strength of the U.S military, it’s expansive budget, and how other countries stack up against the United States. Today, I’d like to discuss whether our military is at sufficient capacity to handle the increasing number of conflicts that we enter in to. A recent opinion article on Fox News made some interesting points about our recent budget cuts.

The Number to Keep in Mind is 25%

As the article points out, the U.S military budget has decreased by 25% since 2011.  25%!! That is quite a significant cut!! When the government makes that much of a cut to our military’s personnel, equipment, and training, one has to wonder if our military is as strong and capable as it should be in this increasingly unstable world we live in? Now, I’m sure with a budget as large as ours, there is some fat to trim, but 25%!!!  That seems like a bit much.

Add to that problem that our greatest threats in the world, Russia & China, are getting stronger at the very same time we are become weaker. This is not a good recipe!!

Soooo….Let Me Get this Straight Continue reading

The U.S. has the Strongest Military, but is the Gap Closing??

In the past couple of posts, I talked about how the U.S. military is superior to all other countries on the planet, from budgets to personnel to assets. However, are two of the U.S.’s biggest military threats, Russian and China, catching up? The answer is, quite equivocally, yes.

Spending

Although the U.S. spends more on it’s military than both Russia and China combined (and you can also add in the next highest 5-6 countries as well), the U.S. has been reducing its military budget. Russia and China, on the other hand, have been increasing their military budges. Although both Russia and China will likely never spend what the U.S. does, they are spending what they allocate very wisely, which will be discussed later. Many of you are probably wondering how this could possibly be happening when the U.S. spends an exorbitant amount more than Russia and China. Well….. here ya go….

Technology

Some U.S. military leaders will agree  that Russia and China have already surpassed the U.S. military in certain areas regarding technology (click here for more information). Many advisers agree that the U.S. is far too dependent on Global Positioning Satellites (GPS). This is quite disturbing because all that Russia or China would have to do to cripple our systems is launch an electronic attack or cyber attack. Do we have sufficient systems in place to prevent such an attack? As recent events have shown, both Russia and China are quite capable of hacking in to our systems. The truth is this..if a war between the world’s greatest powers breaks out (disregarding nukes) the country with the best technology will have a great advantage. We need to become more technologically advanced. We need to be able to protect our technological systems. As the link above points out, we are falling behind both Russia and China in terms of fielding advanced weapons.  Continue reading

Do We Still Have the Most Powerful Military in the World??

Yesterday, I discussed the U.S military budget and how it stacks up with the rest of the world, or should I say, against the rest of the world…it’s that big!! However, is it big enough??

Earlier today, I discussed my concerns over the sequestration of our military budget with a good friend of mine, he happens to own a tow truck company in Connecticut. He pointed out a very important fact: military spending doesn’t necessarily equate to military power and strength. Although the U.S spends the most money and is undoubtedly the #1 military in the world, I’m sure there are countries that are much stronger than they appear based on their budget. With yesterday’s numbers in mind, I’m interested in seeing how close some other countries are to us. And, more importantly, are they gaining ground?

A Look at the Numbers

It’s difficult to measure actual military strength because there are many different variables to consider. But lets keep it relatively simple and just look at personnel and equipment.

 Displaying Military Strength.PNGDisplaying Military Strength.PNGMilitary Strength

I hope the chart I made isn’t too difficult to read, but as you can see, the U.S. military is far and away the most powerful in the word. Again, there are many other variables to consider, but I think this chart gives you a pretty good idea of who is on top.

Two Other Important Factors

In addition to the above numbers, here are two other important factors to consider when trying to determine overall military strength. First, is mobility. The U.S. has a global footprint and maintains the ability to deploy military personnel to and from all areas of the globe in a moment’s notice. For example, the U.S. has 24 major ports and 13,513 serviceable airports. Meanwhile, Russian has 7 major ports and 1,218 serviceable airports and China has 15 major ports and 507 serviceable airports. The U.S.’s ability to mobilize quickly anywhere in the world is a large advantage.

The second important factor to consider is each country’s nuclear arsenal. Currently, the U.S. has 6,970 warheads, Russia has 7,300 warheads, and China has 260 warheads. Although Russia has more warheads, the U.S. spends more money on its nuclear program than all of the other countries with warheads combined. For this reason, the U.S.’s delivery system is more advanced and reliable than Russia’s. It should also be noted that 5 countries in Europe host U.S. warheads in their country, which also gives us an advantage.

Well, those are all the numbers. With the U.S’s military budget and its vast number of military assets, it’s quite clear that the U.S has the world’s strongest military.

Tomorrow, I’d like to discuss whether or not the U.S is losing any ground as the #1 superpower, despite our budget and strength.

I hope you enjoyed this post!! Thanks for stopping by!!

U.S. Military Spending v. the Rest of the World

Yesterday, I posted an article discussing the U.S’s annual budget for the military and how that number has gone down over the years when measured in terms of both total federal spending and GDP. Despite the decreases in spending for our military over the past several years, particularly under Obama, the U.S still spends a considerable amount more than any of the other top militaries in the world. In January of this year, Obama defended his cuts to the military budget and asserted that the U.S spends more on it’s military than the next highest eight nations combined. Politifact checked the accuracy of that statement and here are the results. (Please click the link for the entire article)

According to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, Obama was Wrong, but Just Barely Continue reading

Comparative Analysis of Annual Spending

For my first post on this subject matter, I would like to talk about how much the U.S spends annually on its military, how that number compares to other line items in the budget, and whether military spending has remained consistent, percentage wise, over the years.

The Recent Trend is to Decrease Military Spending

According to defense.gov, the projected amount spent on the U.S military in FY 2016 is $585 billion. Since 2010, the amount spent on the military has gone done in all but 2 years (2014 & 2016) and has decreased a total of $106 billion, as compared to 2010 numbers.

In 2015, the amount spent on military defense accounted for a little over 50% of discretionary spending. Discretionary spending includes other line items such as: transportation, education, government, medicare & health, etc. Second to military spending, a few different line items are each tied for the next largest category of spending at 6% of total discretionary spending.

Military Budget in Terms of  Total Federal Spending and GDP Continue reading