The war between Israel and Hamas, ongoing fighting in Ukraine and rising tensions in the Indo-Pacific and Africa are heralding a “likely more dangerous decade”, a British military think tank warned on Tuesday.
The International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS) said in its annual report ‘Military Balance’ that the world has entered “a highly volatile security environment” that will continue.
“The current military security situation heralds what is likely to be a more dangerous decade, marked by the brazen use by some of military power to pursue claims,” the report said.
It also noted “the desire among like-minded democracies for stronger bilateral and multilateral defense ties in response.”
The “age of insecurity” is resetting the global defense industrial landscape, with the US and Europe ramping up production of missiles and munitions “after decades of underinvestment,” the report said.
A Ukrainian soldier from the 82nd Separate Air Assault Brigade prepares for a battle with the Challenger 2 tank
Sudanese soldiers loyal to army chief Abdel Fattah al-Burhan sit atop a tank in the Red Sea city of Port Sudan
A photo taken from Rafah shows clouds of smoke during the Israeli bombardment of Khan Yunis in the southern Gaza Strip
Taiwan’s Navy launches a US-made standard missile from a frigate during the annual Han Kuang Drill
As the two-year anniversary of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine approaches, the London-based IISS reports that Moscow has lost about 3,000 main battle tanks during the conflict, about the same number as at the start of its operation.
The IISS said Russia had been forced to trade “quality for quantity” in its efforts to replace tanks lost since it invaded its neighbor to the west in February 2022.
“Ukraine has so far managed to compensate for equipment losses through Western donations, improving quality,” the think tank added in its annual assessment of the military and defense economies of more than 170 countries.
Driven in part by NATO member states’ response to the Russian invasion, global military spending rose 9 percent to a record $2.2 trillion in 2022, the report said.
The report comes days after White House hopeful Donald Trump said he previously told the leader of an unspecified NATO member that he would “encourage” Russia to “do whatever they want” in that country if the country would not have met its NATO financial obligations.
‘You have to pay. You have to pay your bills,” Trump told a campaign rally in South Carolina on Saturday.
Only 10 members of the Western-led security alliance met the group’s target of spending two percent of GDP on defense, although 19 of them increased their spending last year, according to IISS figures.
Fighter jets and ships are seen from the bridge of the aircraft carrier USS Carl Vinson during a three-day maritime exercise between the US and Japan in the Philippine Sea on January 31, 2024
Smoke rises after an Israeli airstrike during a military operation in the town of Khan Younis, southern Gaza Strip
Smoke rises after tank fire in the direction of Bakhmut
Ukrainian soldiers deploy a camouflaged net over a military vehicle in their fighting position near Bakhmut
“Russia’s actions have revitalized NATO, with Finland completing its rapid accession process to the alliance in April 2023,” the report said.
“The Russian border with NATO members is now more than 1,300 kilometers longer.”
Elsewhere, the annual report said Iran’s deliveries of missiles to Huthi rebels in Yemen and drones to Russia highlighted Tehran’s growing influence in conflict zones.
China had also demonstrated an “enhanced energy projection capacity,” it added.
“The IISS Military Balance study is published at an important time when the rules-based order is increasingly being questioned,” said Bastian Giegerich, CEO.
“As Western defense spending increases and equipment renewal plans are underway, we reflect on the challenges, including those posed by Russia’s ongoing invasion of Ukraine, China’s military modernization and events in the Middle East,” he added.