Abstract
The Soviet Union has a larger military base and produces a greater array of conventional and nuclear weapons in larger quantities than any other country.1 It funds a comprehensive military-related space programme, and, with the USA, is one of the two largest armaments exporters.2 Yet according to its own budgetary data it spent from 17 to 18 billion rubles on defence each year between 1970 and 1984, equivalent to about 3 per cent or so of national income, or just over 2 per cent of the more usual Western measure of gross national product. At existing exchange rates this is equivalent to about 23 bn dollars. In 1984, the USA spent 250 bn dollars in current prices on defence. During that period, the armed forces grew by over 400 000, the stock, the procurement, the technological and operating parameters of weapons systems all increased, as did the fixed and current capital base necessary to sustain a large modern army.
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© 1988 R. T. Maddock
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Maddock, R.T. (1988). Estimating the Scale of Soviet Defence Expenditures. In: The Political Economy of Soviet Defence Spending. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-349-08271-1_1
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