Indonesia Plan To Increase Their Military Budget

Susilo Bambang Yudoyono, Indonesian President, recently say that indonesian goverment will increase their military expenditure in budget year 2012. In 2012 budget planning , indonesian defence department will receive fund at 65 trillion rupiah or about 6,5 billion dollar.
This increase budget is intended to buy new military gear. Last year budget (2011) indonesian defence department receive annually budget at 47 trillion rupiah or about 4,7 billion dollar.
Indonesian budgeting system base on annually term (except procurement very complex and costly system). So with this significant increase maybe indonesia defence department will buy more complex weapon system such of subrarine, frigate and maybe jetfigter.

In long term procurement , indonesia defence department has plan to buy 10 submarine until 2020 and with South Korea will jointly make 4.5 gen warplane.

Its very interesting to analysis this budget increasing. We know, recent day south east asia situation become more volatile, such situation in spartly island. Even indonesia isnot claimant of this disputed teritory but still fell to always 'in catch' with its neighborhood country. As we know malaysia had alread handed their two brandnew submarine from french. Singapore also has very new weapon aqcuasition, and Pilipine did the same.

Just only time will see whether indodnesian increasing budget will be follow by it neighborhood.

China : China increase their budget defense almost 7%

BEIJING — China on Thursday announced its smallest increase in defense spending in more than two decades, a likely result of both financial constraints and growing concern over perceptions of Beijing as a regional military threat.

The planned 7.5 percent boost in defense spending in 2010 follows at least 20 years of double-digit increases in the budget for the People's Liberation Army — the world's largest standing military with more than 2.3 million members.

Rapid military modernization and the acquisition of cutting-edge jet fighters, warships and submarines have aroused suspicions in Washington, Tokyo, New Delhi and elsewhere over China's intentions, further fueled by Beijing's growing diplomatic assertiveness and booming economic might.

The increase will be used to enhance China's ability "to meet various threats," said Li Zhaoxing, spokesman for China's parliament, the National People's Congress, at a news conference held on the eve of the opening of its annual legislative session.

"China is committed to peaceful development and a military posture that is defensive in nature," Li said.

He said this year's defense budget of 532.11 billion yuan ($77.9 billion) remained relatively low, particularly in relation to the country's vast territory and population. Li said Chinese defense spending has accounted for about 1.4 percent of gross domestic product in recent years, as opposed to more than 4 percent in the United States and more than 2 percent in Britain, France and Russia.

The increase over actual military spending in 2009 was 37.12 billion yuan, Li said. Defense expenditures account for 6.3 percent of China's total budget, a decline from previous years, he said.

Officials say about one-third of China's spending goes to salaries and improving living conditions for soldiers, with the rest split between replacing equipment and military research and development.

However, many overseas analysts believe the official figure accounts for only a part of actual military spending, with estimates on the total amount ranging up to twice or more what Beijing claims.

Figures provided by China's Cabinet show the country's last single-digit percentage in defense spending was in the 1980s.

The smaller rise in spending is due in part to the hit China's economy, especially the crucial export sector, has taken from the global financial crisis, prompting the government to rein in some expenditures, said Ni Lexiong, a defense analyst at Shanghai University of Political Science and Law.

Meanwhile, the leadership has realized that large increases are generating concern and suspicion among China's neighbors, potentially sparking an arms race, he said.

"The decline shows that China does not want to be seen as an aggressive military power," Ni said.
Thursday's announcement follows repeated protests recently by Beijing over the U.S. sale of weaponry to Taiwan. Those sales are driven by threats from China to use force to bring the island under its control, backed up by an estimated 1,300 Chinese ballistic missiles positioned along the Taiwan Strait.

Communist-ruled China split with Taiwan amid civil war in 1949 and continues to regard the self-governing democracy as part of its territory. Beijing has warned of a disruption in ties with Washington if the sale goes ahead, but has not said what specific actions it would take.
Li, the congress spokesman, accused some foreign countries of backing Taiwan to thwart China, calling that unacceptable interference in China's internal affairs.

Washington's announcement in January that it intended to sell Taiwan $6.4 billion in helicopters, air defense missiles and other military hardware was especially unwelcome because it came amid a warming trend in Beijing's relations with the island, he said.

Taiwan relations are less a factor in Beijing's defense spending than economic stress and worries about appearing overly aggressive, said defense scholar Wang Kun-yi of Taipei's Tamkung University.

"China's defense budget is not specifically linked to cross-strait developments, but rather it is more related to the country's global positioning," Wang said.

Defense spending is among budget items to be approved at the end of the National People's Congress' session, which begins Friday and runs through March 14.

This year's session is expected to see a shift in spending priorities toward affordable housing, education, health care and other social programs.

Li said the full assembly this year would amend a law on how deputies are selected, correcting a disparity that gave urban Chinese greater representation than their more numerous rural neighbors.
(Associated Press)

Singapore increasing their military budget

Singapore, to increase its military capabilities will provide funds amounting to U.S. $ 8.13 milliard for the year 2010. Funds of this magnitude is an increase of 0.1% of funds last year.

Singapore navy will get funding for U.S. $ 7.77 million. The funds were used for weapons procurement, operations and maintenance of assets.

As we all know, Singapore is a Southeast Asian country with the largest military spending, which has the best military tool in southeast asia. In recent years singapore seen involved in the crawling arms race with malaysia.

Draft Defense Department budget avoids weapons cuts, adds aircraft

Draft Defense Department budget avoids weapons cuts, adds aircraft

By Greg Jaffe and Craig Whitlock

Washington Post Staff Writer

Saturday, January 30, 2010

The Obama administration's 2011 defense budget avoids the controversial weapons cuts of last year, according to a draft copy, and continues to shift modest amounts of money to weapons programs such as helicopters, unmanned planes and Special Operations units that are in heavy use Afghanistan and Iraq.

The more than $700 billion budget will be released Monday with a congressionally mandated review of defense spending. That review calls on the Pentagon to focus more attention on wars in which enemy forces hide among the populace and use roadside bombs and hit-and-run ambushes to attack U.S. troops. The Quadrennial Defense review also predicts a future dominated by "hybrid" wars, in which traditional states will fight more like guerrillas and insurgents will arm themselves with increasingly sophisticated technology, such as antitank weapons and missiles.

The bold pronouncements in the review, however, won't drive big changes in the Pentagon budget, which is dominated by massive weapons programs with powerful constituencies in Congress and the defense industry.

"I think the review gets the diagnosis right on the big external challenges facing the Defense Department, but at the end of the day, the preexisting mismatch between the strategy and the [budget] program still exists," said Jim Thomas, who played a key role in writing the last quadrennial review and is now a vice president at the Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments.

Despite the language about new threats, a December draft of the quadrennial review doesn't mention the F-35 fighter jet program, which remains one of the largest and most expensive programs in the history of the military and has been in development for more than a decade.

Although Obama has proposed a three-year freeze on federal spending, he has exempted the Pentagon from these limits, allowing an increase of about 2 percent when the costs of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan are stripped out of the budget. In addition to the more than $700 billion budget, the president will also ask for about $33 billion to pay for the surge of about 30,000 troops into Afghanistan.

Much of the new spending in the 2011 budget will be directed to weapons programs in heavy use in Afghanistan. The budget calls on the Air Force to double the number of MQ-9 Reapers, which are unmanned planes that can carry precision bombs, over the next several years. The extra planes will allow the Air Force to increase from about 37 to 65 the number of long-range, unmanned surveillance aircraft that it can keep airborne during combat missions.

The Army and Marine Corps will get almost $10 billion for helicopters, which have been essential to moving troops across Afghanistan and have been in short supply since the beginning of the war in 2001. The budget also calls for increasing spending for Special Operations forces by about 6 percent, to $6.3 billion. Those forces have played a central role in places such as Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan and Yemen, where they have trained indigenous counterterrorism troops.

The Pentagon's quadrennial review will formally scrap its past construct for determining the size of the force, which held that the military should be able to fight two major regional conflicts simultaneously. The review argues that the Pentagon today faces a much broader array of potential threats, including terrorism, stabilization missions and guerrilla wars, and acknowledges that in the near term, the demands of Iraq and Afghanistan will play the major role in determining the size of the U.S. military.

In contrast with last year, when Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates eliminated or curtailed several expensive conventional weapons programs, including the F-22 fighter jet, the new budget includes no major weapons cancellations and is likely to draw plaudits from the defense industry. For years defense industry executives have predicted that spending would be curtailed.

"You have to wonder whether the tough year is ever going to come," said Loren Thompson, chief operating officer of the Lexington Institute, a defense think tank.

The lack of big weapons cuts is causing some outcry from congressional Democrats. "I don't think that we have to protect military contractors. And I want to make that distinction very clearly," said House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Ca.). "I do not think the entire defense budget should be exempted."

src:http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/01/29/AR2010012904235.html?wprss=rss_world/mideast

Singapore's Defence Spending : A long-term, Cost-Effective Approach

Singapore's Defence Spending : A long-term, Cost-Effective Approach

17 Januari 2010

Singapore's approach to defence spending is premised on the belief that security threats do not disappear. Hence a steady defence budget that accounts for 5 per cent of GDP is necessary to maintain readiness of the SAF (photo : Cari)

In his Utusan Malaysia op-ed on Dec 30 last year, Professor Azmi Hassan, a geostrategist at Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, suggested that the 'acquisition of the SAF defence assets... normally does not take into account the cost involved, but only on one factor, which is strategic interest to ensure the country's sovereignty'. The writer further argued that the Singapore Armed Forces (SAF) 'can afford to plan its defence strategy thoroughly because of its huge yearly allocation'.

These assertions of Singapore's defence spending as a sacred cow and its defence strategy as being based on supposedly endless 'blank cheques' are off the mark.

Firstly, Singapore's defence strategy is based on real-time and long-term security needs. Secondly, Singapore's defence spending takes a long-term view of actual security needs. And finally, Singapore's defence procurement process is based on a rigorous evaluation system guided by the principle of seeking the most cost-effective system.

Singapore's inherent vulnerabilities stem primarily from its small size and virtual lack of natural resources. In addition, any serious disruption of its maritime links threatens not just its economic wellbeing but also its very survival. In short, even in the absence of a clearly defined enemy, the strategic vulnerabilities inherent in Singapore's geostrategic position provide the main basis for its strategic planning, defence doctrine and strategic posture.

These vulnerabilities are further accentuated by contemporary threats such as piracy, transnational terrorism and the increasing range of Operations Other Than War-type missions that the SAF is expected to undertake now and in the near future.

It is undeniable that certain painful historical memories from its colonial past and early years of independence have reinforced Singapore's sense of vulnerability. Its fall to the Japanese in 1942, the shattering of the impregnable 'Gibraltar of the East' myth and the subsequent Occupation years formed a traumatic experience from which two lessons have been drawn.

First, Singapore's lack of strategic depth requires a 'Forward Defence' posture; and second, it must have robustly self-reliant armed forces capable of independent deterrence. The latter was further ingrained into the national psyche after the British withdrawal 'East of Suez', announced in 1971.

But despite all this, Singapore's defence strategy is not premised on a limitless pot of gold but actual and perceived security needs.

In justifying an $11.45 billion budget for 2009, Defence Minister Teo Chee Hean cautioned against taking a 'feast and famine' approach to defence spending. In short, its approach to defence spending is premised on the belief that, regardless of economic conditions, security threats do not disappear. Hence, a steady defence budget that accounts for 5 per cent to 6 per cent of national gross domestic product is necessary to maintain the operational readiness of the SAF and indicate the Republic's firm resolve to defend its sovereignty and strategic interests.

That commitment is not the same as Prof Azmi's assertion that it 'does not take into account the cost involved'. In fact, Singapore's defence procurement process is based on a rigorous evaluation system guided by the principle of seeking the most cost-effective system.

For instance, Singapore's acquisition of Air Independent Propulsion-equipped Archer-class submarines from Sweden costs less than half that of the Royal Malaysian Navy's brand-new Scorpene Submarines of the basic non-Air Independent Propulsion configuration. The Archer-class vessels were former Swedish Navy Vastergotland-class submarines, purchased and refitted to Sodermanland-class standards at less than half the cost of a brand new Air Independent Propulsion-equipped submarine.

When the time came to replace the ageing A-4 Skyhawks of the Republic of Singapore Air Force, the eventual selection of the F-15SG was made over a seven-year evaluation period. The F-15SG based on the venerable F-15 platform is a formidable combat-proven aircraft with an air-to-air combat record of 104 kills to zero losses. Singapore's selection of the F-15SG was not based on preferences for any particular country or supplier, but on cost-effectiveness and operational requirements. Indeed, defence analysts have referred to Singapore's rigorous selection process as a model for fighter acquisitions on the global market.

Tender proposals for the SAF's major programmes are subject to rigorous evaluation, with the financial, technical, scheduling and commercial aspects being assessed to ensure that the most cost-effective system is selected. Our defence acquisition policy is not to buy the newest piece of kit that money can buy, but to meet the SAF's operational requirements while maximising the defence dollar.

In his article on multi-role combat aircraft, Prof Azmi concluded that 'US-manufactured jet fighters like the F-5, F-15 and F-16, like those owned by the Singapore Air Force, cannot beat the SU-30'. He added: 'If the acquisition of the 18 SU-30 jet fighters can place the Royal Malaysian Air Force (RMAF) as the dominant air master in the region, then the acquisition of the SU-30 and multi-role combat aircraft will have made it so. Such a perception is not only important for the country's defence, but more important, to ascertain the sovereignty of Malaysia.'

Rather than challenge the sovereignty of any regional neighbour, Singapore's recent acquisition of the Block-52+ variant of the F-16 and F-15SG is to meet its genuine defence requirements. And contrary to Prof Azmi's claims, any planned replacement of the RMAF's MiG-29s will be undertaken in the context of Malaysia's ongoing efforts to modernise its aircraft inventory - not to establish itself 'as the dominant air master in the region'.

Both Singapore and Malaysia have common interests in the continued stability of the region and the close links between their armed forces at the unit and individual levels stand as a testament to that fraternity in arms. (Ong Weichong/NTU)

Malaysia defense budget 2010

2010 Budget

Written on October 23, 2009 – 9:59 pm | by Marhalim |

KUALA LUMPUR: AS usual its the defence and security sector got the stick whenever the economy goes bad. Based on my cursory reading of the Economic Report its the only Main sector of the government that had its budget reduced. Oh, well…

Management Budget for 2010, which pays for maintainaince and spares; operations and emoluments.

RM16.233 billion (last year was RM18.232 billion). From the amount, defence got RM9.101 billion (2009: RM10.651 B) while Internal Security got RM7.132 billion (2009: RM7.851)

Development Budget 2010. Cash for the good followers!

RM3.728 billion (2009: RM4.547B). Defence got RM2.581 billion (2009: RMRM3.028) and Internal Security got RM1.146 B (2009: RM1.519). However as outlined in the speech below, the allocation for MINDEF gets smaller. Its getting only RM1.9 billion, PDRM got RM1 billion while the MMEA got RM622 million.

This is what Dear PM said in his speech about security.
RMM3.7 Billion To Enhance Security
KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 23 (Bernama) — A total of RM3.7 billion will be provided to increase the efficiency of the security force, including providing modern and sophisticated equipment.

Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak said RM1 billion would be provided to further improve the services of the police next year to achieve the government’s objective of reducing crime, which is one of the National Key Results Area.

“The government targets to reduce the crime index by 5 per cent, including reducing street crimes, such as snatch thefts and robberies by 20 per cent by the end of 2010,” he said when tabling the 2010 Budget in parliament Friday.

He said that among the measures taken was to provide mobile police stations in 50 crime hot spots.

The government would also train and enhance the efficiency of 3,000 members of the Rela voluntary corps and Civil Defence Department to conduct joint patrol with the police.

Najib said the security of the nation’s borders would be given serious attention by providing RM1.9 billion to the armed forces for equipment as well as to build and upgrade sentry posts.

In addition, he said, RM600 million would be allocated to the Malaysian Maritime Enforcement Agency to ensure that the national waters were free from smuggling activities, encroachment and pirate threats.

– BERNAMA