PPRuNe Forums - View Single Post - Russia - Military Strength vs Expenditure. How do they do it?
Old 25th Jan 2022, 12:53
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meleagertoo
 
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Russia - Military Strength vs Expenditure. How do they do it?

According to accessible sources Russia's military expenditure is much the same as the UK's yet their military might is many, many times as great. Ten times more troops at least, far more if you count reserves. A Navy perhaps three times the size in terms of major units and infinitely larger if coastal vessels abd conventional subs are counted, an Air Force many times the size too. Plus an absolute plethora of offensive and defensive weapon systems we can only dream of posessing.

Clearly mere size is not necessarily a deciding factor but sheer numbers are a big advantage.

How is it that they manage to have acheived such a vast superiority in numbers and strength with such an all but identical budget?
Or is the question how we manage to achieve such poor numbers with so much spent?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_o...y_expenditures

Russia and UK are rated 4th and 5th in world rankings on Wiki but 2nd and 8th in terms of capability.
https://www.globalfirepower.com/countries-listing.php

What's gone wrong? The differences are far, far too big to be accounted for by relative values of currency, economic status or even legacy equipment, surely?
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