Britain has 2nd largest defence budget in the world

[Livin_on_a_prayer]

I know being Brits we love being cynical and moaning about everything, but with all the current criticising of the military, do people actually realize that we have the 2nd largest defence budget in the world, and in the last budget it was increased. It aint all that bad.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_military_expenditures

 

[danielsan]

Well pointed out - now we just need to get the same value as China seems to!

 

[l/cpl_blowhard]

I know being Brits we love being cynical and moaning about everything, but with all the current criticising of the military, to people actually realize that we have the 2nd largest defence budget in the world, and in the last budget it was increased. It aint all that bad.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_military_expenditures

aye but that includes war pensions to ex forces , mothballed bases ,ships, military museums, warehouses full of duff kit here and abroad , payments family housing agencies , military hospital and medication, and mega pishups

 

[Filbert Fox]

technically we're 3rd if you count the EU.
Most of our budget goes on chairs for the civvies at Whitehall.

 

[Filbert Fox]

military hospital

we still have one??

 

[Livin_on_a_prayer]

It shows we have the resources, but just need the right leadership to spend it properly.

 

[mistersoft]

They saved a fortune when I started buying my own Loctite.

Just need to procure what is actually needed and not what the old boy's network recommends.

 

[Livin_on_a_prayer]

Where?

We've got the cash

What?

But we've also got Blair

 

[l/cpl_blowhard]

military hospital

we still have one??

?? maybe not in uk but abroad ? kcufnose

 

[chocolate_frog]

Whitehall also sank about 1/2 of this budget in to urgently needed plasma tvs so that the desk minions could keep up with the cricket... er, sorry world events.

Strange, Whitehall time and motion study recommends the cheapest and best solution is about 50 42" Plasma screens, yet similar time and motion studies have given us the L85 A1 and similar bits of kit..

 

[chocolate_frog]

Isn't there a mil hospital at Gosport?

 

[Older_by_the_day]

Wow 2nd despite China and the US!

 

[ViroBono]

Isn't there a mil hospital at Gosport?

Not any more.

The military hospitals are:

RNH Gibraltar
TPMRAF(H) Akrotiri
Duke of Connaught Unit, Belfast

All are small and have very limited clinical capability.

 

[StabTiffy2B]

Just need to procure what is actually needed and not what the old boy's network recommends.

Apart from the fact that military 'experts' are included in the IPTs for that very reason. Check your facts first before gobbing off.

 

[mistersoft]

Just need to procure what is actually needed and not what the old boy's network recommends.

Apart from the fact that military 'experts' are included in the IPTs for that very reason. Check your facts first before gobbing off.

Don't need to check facts. Saw the results myself of what people thought we needed and unboxed them to be boxed to be sent back.
Waste of time and the taxpayers money. Still it kept me in a job.

 

[Livin_on_a_prayer]

N.Korea's is suprisingly high, although they proabably spend 50% of their GDP on the military.

 

[AndyPipkin]

Find it difficult to believe we spend more than Japan, China and India, or significantly more than France. Certainly in PPP terms anyway.

 

[l/cpl_blowhard]

what about the old dockyards , air bases, army camps the military still have on their books around the world , rent of land for army range's here and abroad , plasma tv's [ sumeffa said that] and dont forget all those 5.star underground civil defence bases for the cream of society and essential personnel in case of a nuclear - biological war [ not us lot ]

 

[The_Goon]

Agreed. I have serious trouble believing that figure. Higher than CHINA?! There Army alone is massive! And Russia! But then, as others have pointed out, a lot of the money sinks straight into plasma tv's...

Don't forget the procurement! We just bought Apache, getting Eurofighter, all sorts! So a lot goes THAT A'WAY!

 

[boney_m]

Another major expendature, which is significantly higher than our chinese, russian and indian friends is the wage bill. We earn considerably more than them and each of us has about 6 civil servants each to make sure the cogs of defence turn correctly.

Even taking wild stab in the dark figures, if there are 200000 people in the forces and each of them earned 25k, that would be 5 billion straight off the budget. Then add on the pensions to ex forces, equipment costs (new and maintenance of old), Defence estates and of course plasma telly's, its starts to become obvious that defence is an expensive business. Its all very well having a huge army like china, but we could probably afford a few more soldiers if we made them live in poor conditions, gave them obsolete and poor equipment to use and paid them next to nothing.

Its all swings and roundabouts as they say.