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United States Defence and Security Report Q3 2011
Business Monitor International, July 2011, Pages: 138
The US defence market is emerging from the boom years, as there is growing consensus over the need to control spending as deficits become an ever greater worry. Leaders have already outlined some US$400bn in cuts over the coming 12 years, but it is likely that this could grow as the government seeks to limit US deficits by controlling what is one of the largest drains on federal resources. Included in cuts already unveiled are US$78bn in savings from cutting the combined strength of the Navy and Marines by 70,000 personnel, as well as billions more in savings as a result of the withdrawal of 33,000 soldiers from Afghanistan. US defence firms have already said that they are increasingly focused on overseas markets, with India's ever larger defence spending being seen as a particularly attractive target.
In terms of the Afghanistan withdrawal, Admiral Mike Mullen, America's top soldier and chairman of the joint chiefs of staff, said that he was initially unprepared to back such a large withdrawal, describing it as 'aggressive' and likely to 'incur more risk'. Nevertheless, he described maintaining large force levels as the safest course but not necessarily the 'best course'. Some 10,000 troops are set to be withdrawn by the end of 2011 and a further 23,000 by the beginning of summer 2012. US troop levels in Afghanistan had been increased significantly by a 'surge', hoping to replicate the success seen in Iraq using a similar strategy. Despite this, many observers note that success in Afghanistan has proven to be even more elusive than it had been in Iraq, despite higher troop levels.
The United States military killed Osama Bin Laden on the May 1 2011, after a hunt which stretched over a decade before even the 9/11 attacks. Bin Laden was killed in a raid by US Navy Seals on his compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan. He was killed during the operation and his body was later buried at sea. Pictures of his body have not been released, despite original assertions that they would be.
Boeing has said that India is a major market for its future efforts, according to reports from the Economic Times. This comes despite the painful failure of Boeing to be shortlisted for the current tender process on India's new multi-role combat aircraft, with the Typhoon from Eurofighter and Dassault's Rafale being selected for the US$11bn programme. Yet again it is understood that strict American controls on the transfer of technology may have played a role, with much of the European lobbying with the Indian government concerning their willingness to share technology and involve Indians closely in the production process.
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