Latest news with #defencebudget
CTV News
3 days ago
- Politics
- CTV News
Nanos on the Numbers: How are Canadians feeling about defence spending?
Nanos on the Numbers: How are Canadians feeling about defence spending? Pollster Nik Nanos discusses the change in appetite among Canadians when it comes to spending on defence.
Reuters
5 days ago
- Politics
- Reuters
Cambodia and Thailand conflict: how do their militaries compare?
BANGKOK, July 24 (Reuters) - Months of simmering tensions between Cambodia and Thailand exploded into armed conflict on Thursday, including the deployment of a Thai F-16 fighter jet, in the heaviest fighting between the Southeast Asian neighbours in over a decade. Here is a look at the defence forces and arsenals of two countries, according to data from the London-based International Institute for Strategic Studies: Cambodia had a defence budget of $1.3 billion in 2024 and 124,300 active military personnel. The armed forces were established in 1993 from the merger of the country's former Communist military and two other resistance armies. Of this, the Cambodian army is the largest force, with some 75,000 soldiers, backed by more than 200 battle tanks and around 480 pieces of artillery. Thailand, which the U.S. classifies as a major non-NATO ally, has a large, well-funded military, with a defence budget of $5.73 billion in 2024 and over 360,000 active armed forces personnel. The Thai army has a total of 245,000 personnel, including an estimated 115,000 conscripts, around 400 battle tanks, over 1,200 armoured personnel carriers and some 2,600 artillery weapons. The army has its own fleet of aircraft, comprising passenger planes, helicopters such as dozens of U.S.-made Black Hawks, and unmanned aerial vehicles. Cambodia's air force has 1,500 personnel, with a relatively small fleet of aircraft, including 10 transport planes and 10 transport helicopters. It doesn't possess any fighter aircraft but has 16 multi- role helicopters, including six Soviet-era Mi-17s and 10 Chinese Z-9s. Thailand has one of the best equipped and trained air forces in Southeast Asia, with an estimated 46,000 personnel, 112 combat capable aircraft, including 28 F-16s and 11 Swedish Gripen fighter jets, and dozens of helicopters. The Cambodian navy has an estimated 2,800 personnel, including 1,500 naval infantry, with 13 patrol and coastal combat vessels and one amphibious landing craft. Thailand's navy is much larger, with nearly 70,000 personnel, comprising naval aviation, marines, coastal defence and conscripts. It has one aircraft carrier, seven frigates, and 68 patrol and coastal combat vessels. The Thai fleet also contains a handful of amphibious and landing ships capable of holding hundreds of troops each and 14 smaller landing craft. Thailand's naval aviation division has its own fleet of aircraft, including helicopters and UAVs, besides a marine corps that has 23,000 personnel, backed by dozens of armed fighting vehicles.
Al Jazeera
6 days ago
- Politics
- Al Jazeera
EU steps up air defences for Ukraine and sanctions for Russia
Ukraine's European allies marshalled resources this week to provide the besieged country with air defences against drones and ballistic missiles. The European Union also announced an 18th round of sanctions designed to sever all remaining Russian energy imports, and proposed a fivefold increase in the common defence budget to boost EU defence research and procurement. European leaders convinced the United States to symbolically rejoin the 52-nation Ukraine Defence Contact Group coordinating defence donations, but not as a donor. It was the first such meeting attended by US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth since February, when he told EU members that pushing Russia out of Ukraine's internationally recognised territory was unrealistic. Operational developments As the ideological chasm between the EU and the US over Ukraine widened, Russia continued to pound Ukrainian defenders, making a few inroads. Russian forces seized Degtyarnoye in Ukraine's northern Kharkiv region, Popov Yar in its eastern Donetsk region, and Kamenskoye in the southern region of Zaporizhia on July 17. They captured Belaya Gora on Sunday and Novotoretskoye on Tuesday, both in Donetsk. While holding its front line, Ukraine has targeted Moscow with long-range weapons for the past two weeks. Russian air defences downed 13 drones approaching Moscow on Saturday, said its mayor, and Ukrainian drones disrupted traffic in Moscow's Sheremetyevo airport on Sunday, said Andriy Kovalenko, the head of Ukraine's Center for Countering Disinformation. Then, on Monday, Russia claimed to have shot down 74 Ukrainian drones, a third of them near Moscow. Others must have hit their targets, because a fire at Kamenolomny station in the Rostov region caused delays to train services in the Caucasus. Kovalenko also said that on June 11, Ukrainian drones attacked the Lukhovitsky Aviation Plant in the Moscow region, which produces MiG-29 and MiG-31 fighters. Ukraine's General Staff said drones also hit the Shipunov Design Bureau – a manufacturer of anti-aircraft missiles. The following day, Ukraine reportedly blew up a gas pipeline in Khanty-Mansiysk, about 3,000km (1,900 miles) from Moscow. The pipeline reportedly supplied military production facilities. Drone air defence At Monday's meeting of Ukraine's allies, known as the Ramstein format, after the German town where the meetings began, the United Kingdom and Germany pledged to jointly provide Ukraine with an unspecified number of missiles to defend its skies. 'Boris and I have agreed to jointly supply Ukraine with critically needed anti-aircraft missiles,' UK Defence Secretary John Healy said, referring to German Defence Minister Boris Pistorius. Ukraine uses the German-made IRIS-T and US-made NASAMS and SHORAD missile defence systems against drone attacks, which have intensified in recent weeks. From July 17 to 22, Ukraine shot down or electronically suppressed 833 of 968 unmanned aerial vehicles targeting its cities and critical infrastructure. The largest attack came on Monday, when Russia launched 426 drones overnight, along with five Kh-47 M2 Kinzhal ballistic missiles, four Kalibr cruise missiles, one Iskander-K cruise missile and 14 Kh-101 cruise missiles. The largest attack of the war on July 9 used 728 drones, and the head of the German Planning and Command Staff, Major-General Christian Freuding, said on Saturday that Russia plans to further increase its drone production capacity with the goal of launching 2,000 drones in one overnight strike package. Ukraine has used a variety of methods to down or disable drones, including man-portable air defence kits, heavy machineguns and electronic warfare. But its most successful methods so far have proven the German radar-assisted Gepard anti-air 35mm gun and its domestically-developed interceptor drones, said Ukrainian drone warfare expert Olena Kryzhanivska. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has made such domestically produced weapons a top priority. Inaugurating a new government headed by Yulia Svyrydenko on July 17, Zelenskyy said its top priority was to increase domestic arms production: 'Currently, about 40 percent of the weapons in the hands of our warriors are made in Ukraine. In six months, it should be no less than 50 percent,' he said. The goal was 'to push the war back onto Russia's territory – back to where the war was brought from. So that they feel what they've done', Zelenskyy said. Pistorius revealed details of a separate German collaboration with the US to provide Ukraine with Patriot air defence batteries. Ballistic air defence Ukraine has no domestic solution for countering Russia's deadliest long-range weapons, its ballistic missiles. The only effective defence it possesses is the US-made Patriot surface-to-air missile system. Pistorius revealed on Monday that 'during my trip to Washington last week, I agreed with Pete Hegseth that Germany would contribute to the rapid provision of five much-needed Patriot systems.' A complete Patriot system consists of a central radar and antenna array, and at least six launch vehicles carrying four interceptor missiles each. It appeared that Germany would pay for these systems. In return, the US would award it – and other countries donating their Patriots to Ukraine – priority placement in the production queue when buying replacement systems. Zelenskyy told Newsmax and the New York Post that he would separately buy Patriot systems and pay for them with Ukrainian-built drones. 'I told President Trump: 'The American people need this technology, and you should have it in your arsenal.' I believe this is a mega deal – a win-win for both sides. We're ready to share our experience with America and European partners,' Zelenskyy told Newsmax. Europe at the forefront of Ukraine aid While the US administration of Donald Trump remains willing to sell military kit to Ukraine after suspending donations, Europe remains ideologically committed to bankrolling Ukraine's defence and ending its own reliance on the US. Presenting the EU's next seven-year, 1,816-billion-euro ($2,130bn) budget on July 16, Ursula Von Der Leyen proposed a 131-billion-euro ($154bn) budget for defence and space, a fivefold increase on the 2021-27 budget. The money, which is in addition to that spent by EU national governments, would go towards buying European defence goods, investing in European defence industries, cybersecurity and dual-purpose critical infrastructure. Von Der Leyen proposed establishing a European Competitiveness Fund for defence research and innovation. She also proposed doubling the Ukraine Assistance Fund to 100 billion euros ($117bn). On July 18, the EU succeeded in agreeing on an 18th raft of sanctions against Russia. It bans the last remnants of Russian energy purchases from the EU, worth about 23 billion euros ($27bn), and lowers a price cap on oil carried to third parties on EU-insured tankers. The UK, where much of the world's tanker fleet is insured, has coordinated with the EU to follow the price cap of $47.60 per barrel, down from the price cap imposed in December 2022 of $60. 'The UK and EU are working in lockstep to combat those callously fuelling the fires of destruction in Ukraine,' said the UK Foreign Office. The new price cap will be dynamic, and is to be set 15 percent below market prices every six months. The EU forbade companies from transacting with the Russian-built Nordstream I and II pipelines, which were blown up in 2022, ensuring they would never be repaired or rescued from bankruptcy. The EU also banned any refined oil products from entering the EU, and added 105 vessels to the Russian shadow fleet banned from entering EU ports or receiving services, bringing the total to 444. The EU increased the number of Russian banks banned from transacting with its financial sector from 23 to 45, and sanctioned dozens of entities and companies believed to be helping Russia circumvent sanctions to its defence industry, 11 of them non-Russian. Diplomacy versus all-out war Amid this barrage of new measures from the EU and its slender mercantile collaboration with the US, diplomacy was not entirely given up. Ukraine proposed, and Russia accepted, a third round of direct talks in Istanbul on Thursday. Putin would attend China's 80th anniversary celebrations commemorating its defeat of Japan in World War II, the Kremlin said, and could meet with Trump if the latter accepted the invitation. Trump has spent most of his political career demonising China, however, and might resist casting it in the role of peace broker. US Air Force general Alexus Grynkewich told Bild last week that 'the EU and the US have only 18 months to prepare for a global military conflict with China and Russia. 'China and Russia are preparing for a simultaneous strike on Taiwan and Europe,' Grynkewich was quoted as saying. 'The conflict could start with a Chinese attack on Taiwan. Since Russia is currently a satellite of the PRC, Xi Jinping will undoubtedly coordinate actions with Putin. We will need every piece of equipment, all available machinery, and every munition we can get to be ready,' reported the commander-in-chief of NATO's European forces.
Yahoo
03-07-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Defence spending to add 'staggering' sum to deficit by 2035, think tank warns
OTTAWA — The C.D. Howe Institute predicts Ottawa's recently announced spending plans — which include a much bigger defence budget — will drive its deficits markedly higher in the coming years. In a new analysis released Thursday, the think tank said it expects Canada's deficit to top $92 billion this fiscal year, given Prime Minister Mark Carney's plan to meet NATO's defence spending target of two per cent of GDP. C.D. Howe expects deficit growth to slow after this year but predicts deficits will still average around $78 billion annually over four years — more than double the level forecast by the parliamentary budget officer before the spring federal election. But the report also considers this an "optimistic" scenario that takes into account "speculative savings" in the form of new revenues and cost-cutting efficiencies outlined in the Liberals' spring election platform. If those savings aren't realized, C.D. Howe estimates the federal deficit would average closer to $86 billion per year over the same time frame. Carney's defence spending announcement in early June came with an extra $9.3 billion in spending this year. He made the commitment before NATO allies pledged at last month's summit to ramp defence and security budgets up to five per cent of GDP by 2035. C.D. Howe's analysis sees defence spending adding a "staggering" $68.4 billion to the federal deficit a decade from now. In addition to accelerating defence spending, the Liberals recently pushed forward legislation to speed up major project development and delivered a one point cut to the lowest income tax rate. The Liberal government did not publish a spring budget this year and has said it will instead push the planned fiscal update to the fall. In its report, the C.D. Howe Institute accuses Ottawa of making "costly commitments' without showing the numbers to Canadians — but that's not the only area where the think tank says the Liberals are falling short on accountability. Carney also announced a plan earlier this year to separate Ottawa's budget into capital and operating streams, and to balance the operating side of the equation in three years. C.D. Howe said the rationale for introducing separate streams is "unclear" and could deal "a serious blow to transparency and accountability" if major changes are made to how the government defines capital or operating costs. "Without clear standards audited by independent sources, this approach is ripe for abuse," the report read. The Canadian Press reached out to Finance Minister François-Philippe Champagne for comment but has not received a response. C.D. Howe calls on the government to make steeper cuts to program spending and reduce federal transfers to provinces. Parliamentary Budget Officer Yves Giroux also did not issue any deficit forecasts in a limited economic and fiscal update published last month. He blamed the lack of an update on Ottawa's decision to forego a spring fiscal update and the fact that he still doesn't know how the government is defining its operating and capital spending streams. In pre-election estimates that did not account for the impacts of the trade war, the PBO predicted the federal deficit would come in at $42 billion for this fiscal year. Giroux said in an interview with The Canadian Press in June that he now pegs that figure at between $60 billion and $70 billion. This report by The Canadian Press was first published July 3, 2025. Craig Lord, The Canadian Press Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
CTV News
03-07-2025
- Business
- CTV News
Federal deficit could average $78B over 4 years, think tank warns
Prime Minister Mark Carney speaks with reporters on Parliament Hill in Ottawa on Monday, June 30, 2025. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Spencer Colby OTTAWA — The C.D. Howe Institute predicts Ottawa's recently announced spending plans — which include a much bigger defence budget — will drive its deficits markedly higher in the coming years. In a new analysis released today, the think tank says it expects Canada's deficit to top $92 billion this fiscal year, given Prime Minister Mark Carney's plan to meet NATO's defence spending target of two per cent of GDP. C.D. Howe says it expects deficit growth to slow after that but predicts deficits will still average around $78 billion annually over four years — more than double the level forecast by the parliamentary budget officer before the spring federal election. The Liberal government did not publish a spring budget this year and has said it will instead push the planned fiscal update to the fall. In addition to ramping up defence spending, Prime Minister Carney's Liberals recently pushed forward legislation to accelerate major project development and delivered a one-percentage-point cut to the lowest income tax rate. The C.D. Howe Institute accuses Ottawa of making costly commitments without showing the numbers to Canadians. Craig Lord, The Canadian Press
