France Defense spending Cuts for 3yrs

Paris - France confirmed on Sept. 29 an announced cut in defense spending of 3.6 billion euros ($4.8 billion) over the next three years, as government officials said the effects would be "very limited" because of receipts from the sale of property and digital frequencies.

The defense officials drafting the military budget law factored in export contracts for the Rafale fighter jet from Dassault Aviation, but as no such deals have been signed, the government must find 800 million euros over the three-year period to buy (DASSAULT)

The military is contributing to the government's attempts to reduce the public deficit but defense remains a priority for the state, the officials said.

The planned asset disposal would partly compensate for the budget cut, leaving a shortfall of 1.26 billion euros compared with the figure in the multiyear military budget law adopted in 2009, a government official said.
"It's less euphoric but it's in line with the military budget law," the official said.
Total spending under the 2009-14 military budget law was set at 185.9 billion euros at 2008 prices, of which 101.9 billion was earmarked for equipment.
Despite the reduction over the three years, defense spending will climb each year from 2011, which was not the case in other government departments, the official said.
Under the new three-year budget, equipment spending will be 16 billion euros in 2011, 16.8 billion in 2012 and 17.04 billion in 2012.
The military budget law set 16.04 billion euros for 2011, 16.41 billion in 2012 and 17.02 billion in 2013.
Equipment spending hit a record 18 billion euros in 2009 under a bow wave effect as equipment which had been under development for years finally hit the production and delivery stage. That total eased to 17 billion in the current year.
The defense officials drafting the military budget law factored in export contracts for the Rafale fighter jet from Dassault Aviation, but as no such deals have been signed, the government must find 800 million euros over the three-year period to buy the aircraft needed to maintain production at an annual 11 units.
The Defense Ministry confirmed that part of the savings will come from postponing the midlife upgrade and conversion of the Mirage 2000-D fighter-bomber to an air defense variant, an order for 14 multirole tanker and transport aircraft (MRTT), and elements of the Scorpion Army modernization program.
An order for the MRTT will come back for review in 2012 or 2013. French officials are negotiating with their British counterparts for a possible lease of the tanker jets being acquired under the future strategic tanker aircraft program for the Royal Air Force. But the lease terms being offered are too expensive, a French official said. If a cooperative deal is reached, it would be announced at the Anglo-French summit to be held in November.
The government published on Sept. 29 the defense spending figures which will go to the National Assembly in the autumn for voting.

UK MoD 2010 Data

http://www.dasa.mod.uk/modintranet/UKDS/UKDS2010/pdf/UKDS2010.pdf

Netherlands Defense Budget Projection

2.1 Uitgaven begrotingen (in miljoenen euro)
              2009     2010          2011        2012         2013         2014       2015

Defensie  8 733     8 514          8 459        8 224         8 217         8 254        8 236 http://miljoenennota.prinsjesdag2010.nl/miljoenennota-2011/Search.ZGVmZW5zaWU=/aDU1053_2-De-uitgaven-en-niet-belastingontvangsten.aspx

UK Defence Budget Cut By 8%

The Government has today agreed funding for Defence of £33.8bn in 2011-12, £34.4bn in 2012-13, £34.1bn in 2013-14 and £33.5bn in 2014-15. This settlement represents an eight per cent reduction in real terms.

This agreed funding is part of the Government's 2010 Spending Review which has been announced by the Chancellor today.

The Spending Review set out to allocate resources to Government Departments according to the Government's priorities.

The 2010 Spending Review covers the four years from 2011-12 to 2014-15.

The Spending Review has been run concurrently with the Strategic Defence and Security Review (SDSR), bringing defence plans, commitments and resources into balance so that we have a coherent defence capability and a sustainable defence programme for the future.

At least £4.3bn of savings will be made in non-front line activities over the Spending Review period. The MOD's administration costs will also reduce by 33 per cent over the period.

Defence Secretary Dr Liam Fox said:

"The SDSR has reshaped our Armed Forces to tackle future and emerging threats. We now also know how much money we will have to carry out the vital job of protecting Britain's national security.

"This will enable us to bring defence policy, plans, commitments and resources into balance so that we can emerge with a coherent and affordable defence programme for the future."

Azerbaijan to nearly double spending in 2011

BAKU - Azerbaijan is to nearly double its defense spending next year, the finance minister said Oct. 12, amid rising tensions in its conflict with Armenia over the rebel Nagorny Karabakh region.
Finance Minister Samir Sharifov told parliament defense spending under the country's 2011 budget would rise 89.7 percent to 2.5 billion Azerbaijani manats ($3.1 billion).

"Defense spending in 2011 will account for 19.7 percent compared with 10.7 percent in 2010, so the share of defense spending in the budget will almost double," he told lawmakers considering next year's draft budget.
Nearly 1.1 billion manats ($1.4 billion) of the spending will be used to modernize the Azerbaijani military through the purchase of up-to-date equipment and weaponry, he said.
Sharifov said more money would also be allocated for the development of Azerbaijan's defense industry but did not elaborate.
Locked in a long-simmering conflict with Armenia over Karabakh and awash in revenues from energy exports, the former Soviet republic of Azerbaijan had already nearly doubled defense spending in the previous two years.
Ethnic Armenian separatists backed by Yerevan seized control of the Nagorny Karabakh region during a war in the early 1990s that left an estimated 30,000 dead and the region remains outside Azerbaijani control.
Tensions over Karabakh have been increasing this year amid stalled peace talks, with the number of deadly skirmishes along a cease-fire line on the rise for months.
At least 18 soldiers on both sides have been reported killed in clashes this year, including eight soldiers killed last month alone.

Russia increasing spending thru 2013

NEWTOWN, Conn. --- Russian has released new defense spending details. The State Duma Defense Committee has announced that the nation's defense spending, including research and development (R&D) spending, will total $16.3 billion (RUB487 billion) in 2010, $19.2 billion (RUB574 billion) in 2011, $24.3 billion (RUB726 billion) in 2012, and $38.8 billion (RUB1.16 trillion) in 2013.

While total defense spending will increase, the amount allocated for R&D will drop from the current 2010 level of 22 percent to 16 percent by 2013. The modernization of weaponry will instead receive a significant portion of total spending, with 13 percent designated for the 2010 fiscal year, 15 percent for 2011 and 2012, and 14 percent for 2013.

The top procurement priorities are the following:

-- RS-24 intercontinental ballistic missiles,
-- Bulava submarine-launched ballistic missiles,
-- Su-24 fighters,
-- Su-35 long-range fighters, and
-- submarines, corvettes, frigates, and battlefield command-and-control systems.

In September, Defense Minister Anatoly Serdyukov said that the government intends to spend RUB19 trillion ($613 billion) over the next decade to modernize the armed forces.

The current plan for 2010-2013 only represents a small portion (16%) of that amount, just over RUB2.9 trillion ($98.6 billion).

UK Cuts Likely less than Expected

LONDON — Although the U.K. defense
industry is still bracing for
significant program cuts when the
government’s strategic and spending
review is revealed next week,
there are growing indications the
calamitous reductions once feared
will not materialize.
At one point, defense industry
representatives were bracing for
cuts in defense spending well above
20% of current outlays, but recent
indications are that the figure will
be less severe. A cut in spending of
10% or less is now expected, several
industry officials say.
But a senior industry representative
warns that this does not mean
critical program cutbacks will not
Finoccur.
Speaking at the C onservative
Party congress recently, Prime Minister
David C ameron said “some big
changes” are ahead.
Defense Secretary Liam Fox gave
little indication of what may be cut.
However, he did affirm the Trident
nuclear submarine replacement
program would be funded (Aerospace
DAILY, Oct. 7).
Industry officials also now expect
the aircraft carrier shipbuilding
program may survive unscathed,
partly because the cost of canceling
the two vessels would be too high.
However, if both are built, the U.K.
is considering holding the second in
reserve, thereby reducing the need
to fully equip and crew the vessel.
One of the implications is expected to be a cut in the
planned purchase of Lockheed Martin F-35s from the
138 currently planned for the Royal Air Force and Royal
Navy. The program is called the Joint C ombat Aircraft
in Britain.
Another program identified as potentially vulnerable to
cuts has been the Nimrod MRA4 maritime patrol fleet. But
a military official involved in the project expresses confidence
the program will survive, with an industry official
adding it would be hard to believe the aircraft would not
be fielded given the billions of pounds sunk into its development
phase.
Top government officials in the National Security C ouncil
have been convening to try to finalize where the cuts
should fall. That includes what elements of the existing
fighter force, the Tornado GR4 and Harrier fleet, to draw
down early.
Even if there are indications the scale of the budget
reduction will be less than first feared, that is
not to say there is not still anxiety in the sector. Britain’s
large Unite union is warning the U.K. could lose
more than 16% of its defense workforce as a result of
planned spending cuts due to emerge. The union cites
an Oxford Economics study that suggests “that cuts of
26% would lead to potentially over 55,000 [job] cuts
in the U.K.”
“The Tory-led coalition wants to raze the U.K. defense
industry to the ground,” says Unite’s national officer for
aerospace and defense, Bernie Hamilton. He added that
“tens of thousands of job cuts in some of Britain’s most
deprived regions will have tragic consequences. These
skilled manufacturing jobs won’t get replaced.”
The union figures suggest that a spending reduction
of 10% would mean the loss of 18,878 defense industry
jobs and another 15,314 in the supply chain. A cut of 20%
means a total of 55,230 jobs would disappear, around
30,492 directly in the defense industry and 24,738 in the
supply chain.