Pakistan spends $ 11,590 per active service soldier per year, a derived figure by dividing the country’s total defense budget by the size of its active military personnel.
In comparison, Iran spends $ 16,885 per soldier, India $ 50,858, Saudi Arabia $ 301,392 and US $ 667,169. These specific levels of spending soldiers, obtained from SIPRI, the IISS military balance and the official National Defense Budgets, offer information on the maintenance of the warrior of each nation, including training, equipment, modernization of strength and logistics support by combatant.
What do these marked disparities reflect in soldier expenses? Three key ideas: one, despite operating with a significantly lower expense per soldier, the Pakistan armed forces constantly achieves a high degree of combat effectiveness, operational preparation and force multiplication.
Two, this relationship of ‘cost / capacity’ underlines Pakistan’s ability to generate the maximum speechless deterrence value. Three, reflects a thin but lethal force position, one that prioritizes agility and force centered on mission that structuring on financial disbursement.
At $ 50,858 per soldier, India spends 450% more than $ 11,590 per Pakistan soldier, however, Pakistan managed to achieve decisive results on the battlefield, an exceptional testimony of Pakistan’s “cost-capital cost”.
Consider this: Pakistan allocates approximately $ 1.7 billion annually for new weapons acquisitions, while India spends more than $ 22 billion per year on similar acquisitions.
Since 2012, India has spent an estimate of $ 748 billion in defense, reflecting an overwhelming quantitative advantage. However, Pakistan has constantly maintained qualitative parity through specific investments, strategic doctrine and efficient force structuring.
Red alert: To sustain and climb such operational success against regional threats and rapidly modernize adversaries, an increase measured in the defense assignment is essential to preserve three critical capabilities: combat overcoming, modernization of strength and long -term credibility.
Pakistan’s armed forces must continue to preserve fiscal efficiency at all costs. To improve war combat capabilities, the short and medium term objective of Pakistan should be to increase service expenses to approximately $ 15,000, aligning more closely with the $ 16,885 of Iran.
Red Alert: The $ 11,590 per Pakistan soldier risk the preparation gaps. The $ 11,590 per Pakistan soldier also risk the obsolescence of the team. Large investments on conventional platforms may not align with the rapid evolution of modern war. Naval frigates and submarines are very expensive and the Naval War is evolving to submarine vehicles (UUV) unmanned, autonomous surface vessels and hypersonic anti -man -and -fashioned missiles.
The main battle tanks (MBTS) demand substantial funds for maintenance, updates and ammunition just when the modern war is changing to unmanned systems, guided anti -tank (ATGM) and mereous ammunition (drones such as Bayraktar TB2 or Switchblade).
The fleet of the fourth generation aircraft of Pakistan incurs the significant maintenance and update cost. The appearance of unmanned aerial vehicles (UCAV) and swarm drones driven by AI is transforming air fight, offering profitable and scalable alternatives.
We must also consider the following international precedents: the German states (Länder) finance military infrastructure ($ 2.2 billion annually); The US states found the National Guard units ($ 12 billion); Chinese provinces Logistics of the militia ($ 5 billion); The Canadian provinces maintain CAF bases ($ 1.3 billion); Brazilian states finance the Military Police ($ 5 billion); The training facilities of the Provinces Fund of South Africa ($ 550 million) and the Mexican states finance the national and military guard infrastructure ($ 4 billion).
With budget surpluses billionaire of rupees, the provinces of Pakistan can emulate global precedents, ensuring the effectiveness of sustained combat and credibility of deterrence.
The writer is a columnist based in Islamabad. The Tweets/Public @Salemfarrukh and can be contacted at: [email protected]
Discharge of responsibility: The views expressed in this piece are that of writer and do not necessarily reflect the editorial policy of PakGazette.TV.
Originally published in the news
