According to Dr Sam Perlo-Freeman, Head of the Military Expenditure Project at Sipri, "The idea of the ‘war on terror' has encouraged many countries to see their problems through a highly militarised lens, and have used this to justify high military spending. Iraq and Afghanistan have cost $903 billion in additional military spending by the USA alone."

But for countries like the UK is this still feasible? Britain has committed itself to a host of ‘big ticket' defence projects over the coming years, from two new planned aircraft carriers to the F-35 joint strike fighter project with the US, as well as new Astute hunter-killer submarines and Type 45 destroyers. Critics argue that the UK is preparing for the wrong type of war.

Defence spending is around £37bn a year and accounts for just 2 per cent of GDP, compare that to the 4 per cent spent in the mid-1980s. Since this government came to power in 1997 UK forces have served in Iraq, Afghanistan, Kosovo, Sierra Leone and around the globe in a variety of different roles. Britain's forces are stretched and within the military and political establishment changing global threats and the impact of the global recession are raising some sensitive questions.

With national debt set to surge to over £1.3trn in five years doubts are being raised about the UK's ability to fund such a diverse range of projects.

Is our defence posture and the spending associated with it too wrapped up in the UK's sense of itself and its role in the world? Dr Ian Kearns, who chaired the Institute for Public Policy Research's National Security Commission believes that we need to change. "National prestige needs to be thought about in different terms," he argues. Indeed he argues that rather than attempting to maintain a sizeable traditional military presence why doesn't the UK, for example, look to become a global leader in cyber warfare?

As threats change so will allies and enemies but, as yet, the debate about the UK‘s defence budget is less about ideas and more about budgets and doing more with less.

What will future wars look like and where will the threats to national security come from?

High levels of military spending can cause economic difficulties and, as economies struggle to address changed economic circumstances, arms companies may well face significantly reduced demand from governments as the nature of military spending changes and is cut as governments respond to rising budget deficits.

The Institute for Public Policy Research argued that only a fresh strategic defence review in the UK, that considered security budgets right across Whitehall, could begin to seriously re-focus attitudes towards defence spending.

As its report concluded: "We face serious international security challenges but provided we are willing to change the way we think, and adapt our policy solutions to new circumstances, there is much that can be done."

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