Post-Cold War fleet cuts and national spending priorities

The fleet cuts of the 1990s and 2000s rested on expectations that major naval conflict would become unlikely and large navies would no longer be needed. Claims that Britain, France, or Italy simply cannot afford adequate forces are challenged by the size of their economies. A comparison using Britain's economy at roughly one seventh of America's scales American spending and force structure down by seven as a rough benchmark. That benchmark is judged affordable and adequate for British needs, though it implies spending more than Britain currently does. The criticism concerns political priorities and repeated short-term savings, including the belief that Western states would be powerful enough to choose every future war.