Blindspot #038 - NATO Weapons plowed in Ukraine KillingFields, South African Mambas in the mix

Blindspot #038 - Western Weapons plowed into Ukraine Killing Fields & South African Mambas in the mix

Buiteboer // From Bunker 42
https://buiteboer.co.za/2022/06/06/blindspot-038-western-weapons-plowed-into-ukraine-killing-fields-south-african-mambas-in-the-mix/
04/06/22

A tsunami of western weapons have been flowing into the Ukraine, not only since 24 February, 2022, but since advent of conflict in 2014. Today we are looking into three interconnected stories:

- Global military spending
- Data on military support and western weapons washing over Ukraine
- How did South African Mamba armoured vehicles end up in Ukraine?

We will find, for example, that in a mere five months (January to May, 2022), the USA alone had donated military hardware to the tune of $26bn to Ukraine, which is approximately 55-60%, of the total $41 billion, the whole African continent spent on arms in the year 2019-20 (according to DefenceWeb).

1. Global military spending in perspective

Today we are talking hard numbers. Numbers of weapons, and numbers of money thrown at arms manufacturers by states as they bolster, boost, and maintain military posture and readiness. We take some indicators from SIPRI, the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute. These numbers lays the foundation for us zooming in on the western weapons, and money for weapons, washing over the Ukraine like a rather metallically explosive tsunami.

In 2020 the USA’s military expenditure reached $778 billion, representing an increase of 4.4 per cent over 2019. As the world’s largest military spender, the USA accounted for 39 per cent of total military expenditure in 2020.”
Russia’s military expenditure increased by 2.5 per cent in 2020 to reach $61.7 billion. This was the second consecutive year of growth.
With a total of $59.2 billion, the UK became the fifth largest spender in 2020.
Germany increased its spending by 5.2 per cent to $52.8 billion, making it the seventh largest spender in 2020.

India ($72.9 billion), Japan ($49.1 billion), South Korea ($45.7 billion) and Australia ($27.5 billion) were the largest military spenders in the Asia and Oceania region.