U.S. spending on its military exceeded that of the next ten largest military spenders in 2012. Russia and China together spent less than 38% as much as the U.S. If the U.S. cut its military spending in half, it would still outspend China, Russia and Britain together.

If the U.S. did not increase its military spending at all, at the present rate of growth in China’s military spending, it would take China 14 years to catch up to the U.S. level of military spending.