JRL NEWSWATCH: “The Military Balance 2024” – International Institute for Strategic Studies
“… Russia has lost over 2,900 main battle tanks … about as many as it had in active inventory at the outset …. Moscow has been able to … pull[] thousands of older tanks out of storage …. Russia’s stored equipment inventories … could potentially sustain … three more years of heavy losses … even if at lower technical standard …. Ukraine also has suffered heavy losses, though Western replenishments have allowed the country to broadly sustain its inventory … while upgrading … quality. The situation underscored a growing feeling of a stalemate … that may persist through 2024. Russia’s aggression spurred European countries to boost defence spending and has strengthened NATO …. NATO … defence spending, dominated by the United States, has risen to about 50% of the global total. … The pace of ammunition expenditure in the war between Russia and Ukraine has also caused a reckoning in the West that production capacities have atrophied, with countries scrambling to rectify shortcomings …. Ukraine’s use of inexpensive uninhabited maritime vehicles (UMVs) to target Russia’s Black Sea Fleet has given others greater urgency in pursuing such equipment …. [W]hile … UAVs[] have been a staple of modern armed forces for some time, recent conflicts have demonstrated the utility of a far greater range …, such as direct-attack munitions, quadcopters, and more traditional medium- and high-altitude platforms. Demand has spurred a wave of export deals ….”