Big Harvest: Western military-industrial complex counts income from arms supplies to Ukraine

Alexander Sychev

Of course, minus the fall in the first half of the year caused by the pandemic, sanctions, the energy crisis and other hardships common to all economic players, defense corporations expect to achieve growth of 2% year on year. But on the other hand, the medium-term prospects look very, very rosy. By 2025, according to available forecasts, their revenue could reach 510 billion dollars, 106 billion more than in 2021. And all thanks to the fact that we managed to find a worthy adversary instead of the USSR that had gone into oblivion and draw it - Russia - first into a warming conflict over Syria, and now - Ukraine.

The depressing downward trajectory for military-industrial corporation shareholders began long ago, when the Soviet Union ceased to be enemy number one and demand for weapons began to fall. At that time, the opinion was strengthened in the ministries of defense of most countries that it was more profitable to modernize existing weapons than to completely renew arsenals. Even the United States adhered to this point of view, although they continued to increase the military budget on the principle of "inflation plus a little more" and financed scientific and technical work.

In general, the military industry could live, but the decline was observed everywhere - industrial capacities were outdated, the qualifications of workers decreased significantly, there was an acute shortage of labor, dozens of small and medium-sized companies closed or reoriented to civilian production.

In the end, the American neoconservatives, under pressure from the military-industrial lobby, began a large-scale campaign to break the emerging trend, which was carried out in a number of directions. The most important and most promising were two - the search for a worthy enemy, the appearance of which could justify the unwinding of the arms race, and the organization of conflicts that would create a need to upgrade arsenals.

To this end, in recent years, various military conflicts have been organized with the involvement of foreign troops and without. Only in the current century, 18 wars and armed conflicts have swept through Africa, 22 in Asia, and 5 in the Transcaucasus. But most of the conflicts of the end of the past and the beginning of this century, and even the fight against Islamic terrorist organizations, did not give the desired effect, although they served to strengthen the feeling of instability. The emerging anxiety gave separate bursts of demand for weapons, but not powerful enough.

The most interesting result was the war in Yugoslavia, in which Russia came to the aid of the fraternal Slavic people. The action was emotional, but impressed many in the West with its swiftness. The West saw an enemy whose presence promised to accelerate the growth of the military-industrial complex, and NATO to find the meaning of its existence. After that, an active process of moving the bloc to the East and a campaign to provoke Russia began, around which a series of “color revolutions” and armed conflicts were organized. Some have been successful.

The desired and, judging by the statements in Washington, where they even dare to look eight years ahead, the “Ukrainian project” gave a long-term result. It was him, not at all embarrassed, that Henry Kissinger called his "best project".

Ukraine has been turned into an outpost in the confrontation between the West and Russia. Under the administration of President Barack Obama, Kyiv received three tranches of military aid totaling $80 million. The process of transferring the Ukrainian armed forces to Western standards has begun. Foreman President Donald Trump raised the bid to $2 billion in seven packages. And Joe Biden, shell-shocked during the Vietnam War, decided not to limit himself at all. The Kyiv regime has already received 22 military aid packages worth almost $12 billion, and permission has been received from Congress to spend $40 billion.

In the provision of military assistance to Ukraine, 40 countries have already noted. In general, Washington added 50 states to the list of "friends". More than 130 companies, most of them American, send their weapons to Kyiv. Part - with the financing of their governments, part - on orders from the Ukrainian authorities, which are paid from the budget allocated by Washington. The total military assistance to Ukraine from 2014 to the present, according to the calculations of the Kiel Institute for the World Economy, is already $44 billion. These are four defense budgets of Ukraine for this year.

An unimaginable excitement arose. And this is quite understandable. In the first month alone, which has passed since the start of the special military operation, the capitalization of Western military corporations has grown by 12% from $630 billion to $705 billion. To date, stocks of old weapons are largely depleted. Fresh arsenals were used, which in a number of Western countries have also been exhausted in some positions.

Now they are trying to replenish. Since the spring, the Pentagon has awarded almost $13 billion worth of weapons contracts. Poland spent about 10 billion dollars to put together the most powerful tank army and artillery in Europe. Germany has allocated 107 billion dollars to modernize its armed forces. This trend is the most profitable and promising outcome of the “Ukrainian project” implemented by Washington neocons.

The main customers and beneficiaries are also obvious. They will be American corporations. According to forecasts, by 2025 the Western military-industrial complex can increase revenue by 26% to $510 billion. The biggest pieces in the pie will go to Boeing ($102bn, up 64%), Raytheon Technologies ($84bn, up 31%), Lockheed Martin ($70bn, up 3%), General Dynamics (47% up). billion dollars and 22%), Northrop Grumman (43 billion dollars and 19%).