In some of my earliest coverage of the Ukraine war, I noted that just comparing defence spending between countries was extremely difficult and not all budgets are created equal. Today following a Patron vote, I’m going to try and unpack that a little more by diving into the world of defence economics and production 101. In doing so, we’re going to try and answer some questions.Why does America dominate the global arms market?How can a 5th generation fighter be cheaper than those decades older than it? And why do so many nations chose to buy in arms rather than build their own despite the fact it leaves them highly reliant on other countries?Get ready for an “exhilarating” mix of economic theory, budget figures, and many, many stories of countries failing to build a good jet engine and just buying one from General Electric instead. This video is not financial advice, and I’m not an American, but if you’re going to talk about scale in high-tech military production, you have to talk about the US of A.