“Germany was going to be spending more on defence than the UK [...] we’re used to this image of ourselves as the leading military power in Europe. Without this increase, in [cash] spending terms that would no longer have been true,” notes Malcolm Chalmers.
on.ft.com/3vXt6Jz

'No more money has been announced for the 2024/25 financial year, aside from an extra £500m for Ukraine. Beyond that...the government has committed to increases in defence spending amounting to just over 3% in real terms for each of the next six years.' rusi.org/explore-our-re…

🚨🧵New Paper, ‘Bracing for 2025: The UK and European Security Under a Trump Presidency’ by Malcolm Chalmers is out now!
rusi.org/explore-our-re…

I refer back to previous comments (x.com/mtsavill/statu…). Delays to Dreadnought mean the deterrent system is being put under stress both in terms of equipment and people. And there are years of this still to come.

Following today's #Budget2024 , below RUSI's Malcolm Chalmers provides his analysis on what was announced by Chancellor Jeremy Hunt. Make sure to stay tuned as tomorrow we will be releasing a #RUSIReflects with more analysis from Malcolm.

Seems to me that every big European power has issues. Germany miles ahead on euro value of aid, but flailing on Taurus. France has supplied high-end kit, but relative straggler on overall aid. UK led well in 2022 & has done some v punchy non-public things, but v low on % of GDP.

“Of the nearly 3,000 people who work at SHAPE, just 30 people showed up. That ragtag group of volunteers who committed to work nights & weekends became the so-called “Tiger Team” that would remake—and is still remaking—NATO’s military headquarters for war” foreignpolicy.com/2024/02/28/nat…

Wednesday 28 February

10.45am Lords International Relations & Defence Committee discusses the impact of the war in Ukraine for UK defence with Shashank Joshi, defence editor at the Economist, and Malcolm Chalmers of RUSI.

committees.parliament.uk/event/20848

🔴🧵As we reach the second anniversary of Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine, we take a look back at some of our most impactful and thought provoking writing and event recordings of the conflict ⬇

I highlighted the great work RUSI has been doing recently on Russia and Ukraine. Once you have read and watched all this, a few other 'anniversary' items are worth your time this weekend. 🧵

x.com/MTSavill/statu…

Armenia is a hub for re-export of western goods to Russia (lhs). Kazakhstan was a hub in the past, but then - clearly - someone in Astana decided to put an end to this (rhs). There's nothing inevitable about reexports to Russia. If they're going on, governments are in on this...

Every single EU country saw its exports to Central Asia boom right after Russia invaded Ukraine. This goes on from every single EU country to every single country in Central Asia and the Caucasus. Once you add all that up, it's NOT small. It's big. And the EU does nothing...

Some thought on today's report of a failed Trident missile test. It's important to open by saying, we have very few details, so need to exercise some caution on conclusions.🧵

Column: The peril of Ukraine's ammo shortage

📝 Jack Watling time.com/6694885/ukrain…

In memory of Alexei Navalny Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office

“The MoD will need to be careful to avoid a deepening stop-start in its procurement relations with industry, which could increase costs over time even if it saves cash in the very short term”, says RUSI's Malcolm Chalmers to The Telegraph.