Arms race refers to the quality and quantity competition in military equipment between hostile countries or potential hostile countries in peacetime when they are imaginary enemies.In order to cope with the possible future war, countries compete to expand their armaments and enhance their military strength, which is a preventive military confrontation.
In order to expand and compete for world hegemony, military powers are competing to increase and improve the quantity and quality of military equipment and develop into high-tech fields.[1]
Historical process
Announce
edit
Before World War II
Before World War I, naval competitions were mainly held between Britain and Germany.
After World War II
After the Second World War, it was mainly carried out between the United States and the Soviet Union, which can be divided into the following stages:
① Conventional arms race.
After the war, the United States and the Soviet Union strengthened conventional arms on a large scale in the Cold War.In the army, both sides are committed to the improvement of tank type change and performance, as well as the improvement of anti tank combat capability.In terms of navy, the U.S. advantage gradually declined. In the 1970s and 1980s, the Soviet Union built more than 700 warships of all types, while the U.S. only built 377 in the same period;The Soviet Union's capability of ocean navigation has also been greatly enhanced, but the US military has maintained a strong naval aviation force.In the air force, the U.S. military has advantages in aircraft performance, payload, range, all-weather combat capability and electronic countermeasures.During the 1980s, the Soviet Union renewed its active aircraft at an average rate of 750 per year, greatly improving its flight performance.The interval between the United States and the Soviet Union to develop new weapons for upgrading has been shortened.What is outstanding is that the United States and the Soviet Union are competing to improve the electronic technology of communication, command, control and information, namely C3I system. The United States is in the lead.
② The nuclear arms race.In the 1970s, the United States and the Soviet Union launched a fierce competition in nuclear weapons.By the end of 1987, the United States had 26000 nuclear warheads, with a total explosive yield of 4.741 billion tons of TNT;The Soviet Union has 22000 nuclear warheads, with a total explosive yield of 7.525 billion tons of TNT.The Communist Party of the United States and the Soviet Union has 97% of the world's total nuclear warhead inventory, and the total explosive yield is one million times that of the Hiroshima atomic bomb dropped on Japan, which can destroy the earth dozens of times.At the same time, both sides have invested a lot of manpower and material resources in the development of high-tech fields such as nuclear weapon delivery vehicles, multi warhead homing, submarine launching strategic nuclear weapons, etc.
③ Space weapons race.Space technology has been closely linked with the military since its inception. The development of science and technology in the 1980s turned the US Soviet arms race to space and other high-tech fields.Space weapons mainly include anti ballistic missiles and anti satellite directed energy weapons, such as high-energy lasers, particle beams and space stations for military purposes.In March 1983, President RW. Reagan put forward the "strategic defense initiative", also known as the "Star Wars" plan.The plan is to establish a huge defense system based on satellites, with lasers and particle beams as weapons, to intercept and destroy enemy missiles in stages.The Soviet Union is also stepping up the development of particle beam weapons, and the military application of space stations has already begun.
The rapid growth of military budget, the competition for the superiority of weapons quality and performance, and the constant change of military strategy are the main characteristics of the military readiness competition between the United States and the Soviet Union.In 1983, the world military expenditure was about 800 billion US dollars, and in 1985 it reached 970 billion US dollars. The US and the Soviet Union each accounted for 1/3 of the total.In the 1970s, the nuclear arsenals of the United States and the Soviet Union were saturated one after another, and then turned to compete for advantages in improving performance and quality.The development of high technology represented by space technology in the 1980s changed the military strategy from ensuring destruction to ensuring survival.
In the 1990s, the constant internationalization of the world economy, the strengthening of interdependence among countries, and the adjustment of the political strategies of the United States and the Soviet Union brought about the relaxation of the international situation, which slowed down the momentum of the arms race.At the same time of achieving substantive disarmament, the competition between the United States and the Soviet Union shifted more to the comprehensive national strength centered on economy.However, the United States still developed new weapons such as stealth aircraft.In 1991, the Soviet Union collapsed, and the military readiness competition between the United States and the Soviet Union, which lasted for more than 40 years, ended.However, from the late 1980s to the early 1990s, some new features emerged in the arms race. In order to promote regional hegemonism, small and medium-sized countries among regions vigorously strengthened their armaments, resulting in local wars and regional conflicts, which became a factor affecting international peace.
The main source of the arms race lies in the hegemonic policies of the superpowers.Most countries in the world advocate stopping the arms race and striving for general and complete disarmament to ensure world peace.
On January 3, 2022, the leaders of China, Russia, the United States, Britain and France, the five nuclear weapon states, jointly issued the Joint Statement on the Prevention of Nuclear War and the Avoidance of an Arms Race.[2]
