List of Countries by Military Expenditure as a percentage of GDP

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Source (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_and_federations_by_military_expe nditures)

Let me ask you this,how secure are we ?
Let me give you a tip:You will never know in what we are using this money for.

Let me ask you this,how secure are we ?
Let me give you a tip:You will never know in what we are using this money for.

I think I know what your trying to hint, are you referring to coastal protection?

Did you consider ISS and Royal office ? :)

Did you consider ISS and Royal office ? :)

Royal Office, fine.. ISS!? Since when are we spending on the International Space Station?

ISS = Internal Security Services

ISS = Internal Security Services

The figures above are suppose to represent expenditure on modern military equipment. If they are spending on "ISS" as you state, then they must be arming them with lasers, infrared night vision goggles and cloaking devices?

Military equipment is not all about lasers and jets *smile*
there are many equipments non-weapons which are more expensive than jets.
I will stop at this point and let you think about my first question ^^

Did you consider ISS and Royal office ? :)

Since when are we spending on the International Space Station?

ISS = Internal Security Services

haha what a dialogue lol


i know where the 11.40 goes.. they go for the crap old british hawk fighters fixing them all the time .. at least most of the percentage go there..

besides why do we need to spend this much when we have a protection treaty with Britain.. it's either this or that..


if i have a good car, why should i ask a taxi to take me wherever i go !!

we have a protection treaty with Britain.. it's either this or that..

There's obviously an incentive for that protection.

incentive like what ?

and if there is as you say then why should we spend alot of money to arm ourselves ? we also pay millions of ORs for Britain for every single Omani person.

Besides, what's the benefit of this protection treaty ? Kuwait gained nothing from it. We all know that it's paying the bill of the Gulf war till now.

incentive like what ?


Financial perhaps, but no one will provide security for nothing.



and if there is as you say then why should we spend alot of money to arm ourselves ?


This is the big question! Where are these arms? As far as I know, we are probably the least armed country in the gulf. (someone correct me if I'm wrong)

Britain works as the International Mafia? we pay protection money? This is a first for me. What El Rey is saying makes sense, what happened in Gulf War!

I think all this money goes in other things as well like awards, training, special hidden units training, building secret bases around the world, bla bla. You can never tell what the govt. does!

How accurate is this information?

I don't see UAE in the list.

What is Oman's defense posture?

I hate to depress you unknown, but I have a feeling that figure is only for the uniformed military; i.e. it does not cover the internal security or intelligence apparatus. Just Army, Navy, Air Force and probably Royal Guard.

It's an interesting figure, but I think it's important to remember that this was taken from one year. It would be better to see a comparison of average defence expenditure both in real terms and as a percentage of GDP over a period of, say ten years.

Oman does spend a lot on defence equipment. But it's a small country, with long borders, and some..er...interesting neighbours. Relations with Saudi and the UAE are good of course, as GCC members, but then again the Saudis have supported at least two insurgencies to overthrow the Sultans of Oman in the past...and the other neighbours are also friendly of course: Yemen and Iran. But Yemen has its internal security issues that need to be prevented from spilling into Oman. And Iran is...well...Iran...and the straits of Hormuz are kind of important to everyone.

So Oman, although it's a bantamweight country, needs at least a welterweight deterrent. And these things are expensive. By the way, Oman's military have a pretty good reputation from those who know them. I have met a lot of British officers who have trained or trained with the Omani armed forces, and they have a high opinion of Omanis. Maybe some of the Omani military officers who participate in this forum have a view ;)

^^

So: what is Oman's defense posture?

So far all I am getting from you is that they have a navy to help protect the Straits of Hormuz. And there is a sort of border guard affair between Dhofar and Yemen.

That makes some sense.

What is the defense posture of the rest of the military? Is it oriented toward cooperative defense (with GCC countries and allies) against regional threats?

And who might those be? When Omani military dudes do defense planning, who are they planning to defend against?

I'm no expert on Omani military doctrine, but yes they do a lot of joint GCC planning and exercises, called "Peninsula Shield". They also do joint exercises with their international allies, especially the British, and some naval exercises with the Americans I think.

I guess you're real question when you ask about "defence posture" is "who is this deterrent pointing it?". My view is that everyone knows where potential threats might lie, but Oman is careful not to be pointing its weapons at anyone. It's a good analogy for Omani foreign policy overall!

Oh, and the Navy are not just for the Straits of Hormuz - that's just their border with Iran. There is another 2000 miles of coastline and economically vital fishing grounds to be looked after too.

How accurate is this information?

I don't see UAE in the list.

Oman budget 2008

The total estimated expenditure of RO5.8 billion.
Defence and security RO1.4 billion 24 %
Government civil ministries expenditures RO1.925 billion. 33 %
Oil and gas production costs RO1.3 billion 22 %

http://www.khaleejtimes.com/DisplayArticle.asp?xfile=/data/business/2008/January/business_January32.xml&section=business
http://timesofoman.com/inner_cat.asp?cat=1&detail=13342&rand=0QfjweFv5sTKvjUne56pnx0u9i

^^

So: what is Oman's defense posture?

So far all I am getting from you is that they have a navy to help protect the Straits of Hormuz. And there is a sort of border guard affair between Dhofar and Yemen.

That makes some sense.

What is the defense posture of the rest of the military? Is it oriented toward cooperative defense (with GCC countries and allies) against regional threats?

And who might those be? When Omani military dudes do defense planning, who are they planning to defend against?


in the time of 70s we had communism flow coming from Yemen and in other times we had clashes with KSA and till now there are hidden crudges about KSA demanding Buraimi and so on... we never know who is our lurking enemy, it could be our closest ally. thats why we always should be alert ..

Peninsula Shield is very week and it's proposed by HM to start with 200,000 militants which were hugely reduced claiming that most of the army will be Omanis since they don't mind working there unlike most of the other Gulfers.

Besides, what's the benefit of this protection treaty ? Kuwait gained nothing from it. We all know that it's paying the bill of the Gulf war till now.

Surely you remember that Saddam invaded and tried to annex Kuwait and make it part of Iraq.

Kuwait regained its independence. And they need to pay for it. They are rich. They can afford it.

You see, Bush and B-liar say Iran are a threat .. we make weapons etc.. So ... You will need about X F-16's .. etc.

I hate to depress you unknown, but I have a feeling that figure is only for the uniformed military; i.e. it does not cover the internal security or intelligence apparatus. Just Army, Navy, Air Force and probably Royal Guard.

It's an interesting figure, but I think it's important to remember that this was taken from one year. It would be better to see a comparison of average defence expenditure both in real terms and as a percentage of GDP over a period of, say ten years.

Oman does spend a lot on defence equipment. But it's a small country, with long borders, and some..er...interesting neighbours. Relations with Saudi and the UAE are good of course, as GCC members, but then again the Saudis have supported at least two insurgencies to overthrow the Sultans of Oman in the past...and the other neighbours are also friendly of course: Yemen and Iran. But Yemen has its internal security issues that need to be prevented from spilling into Oman. And Iran is...well...Iran...and the straits of Hormuz are kind of important to everyone.

So Oman, although it's a bantamweight country, needs at least a welterweight deterrent. And these things are expensive. By the way, Oman's military have a pretty good reputation from those who know them. I have met a lot of British officers who have trained or trained with the Omani armed forces, and they have a high opinion of Omanis. Maybe some of the Omani military officers who participate in this forum have a view ;)


As always, you have a great deal of knowledge about Oman, and perhaps more than the average Omani, despite the lack of a modern arsenal compared to our neighbors, we do actually have a well trained army (foot soldiers), I came across an article once categorizing them as the best in the GCC.

Surely you remember that Saddam invaded and tried to annex Kuwait and make it part of Iraq.

Kuwait regained its independence. And they need to pay for it. They are rich. They can afford it.

they regained independence because of two reasons:

1- their money: America will do anything to suck your money and they found it in Kuwait.
2- the big desire of the US to destroy Iraq, they found the opportunity to destroy their growing enemy with Kuwaiti money.

so, the protection treaty was in vain since more than 30 countries were involved in that war

they regained independence because of two reasons:

1- their money: America will do anything to suck your money and they found it in Kuwait.
2- the big desire of the US to destroy Iraq, they found the opportunity to destroy their growing enemy with Kuwaiti money.

so, the protection treaty was in vain since more than 30 countries were involved in that war

Well, but Saddam didn't need to annex Kuwait and abolish its independence. That was what put everyone on their side.

During the Iran-Iraq War we were much friendlier with Iraq than Iran.

And we supported Bosnia and Kosovo, Muslims against Christians, because the Christians were the aggressors. No oil there.

In Kuwait, Saddam was the aggressor.

You guys shouldnt forget that militry service is one of the highest employers in the country!!

When I was in the region I know the majority of Oman's defense budget was in protecting the border with Saudi Arabia.

they regained independence because of two reasons:

1- their money: America will do anything to suck your money and they found it in Kuwait.
2- the big desire of the US to destroy Iraq, they found the opportunity to destroy their growing enemy with Kuwaiti money.

so, the protection treaty was in vain since more than 30 countries were involved in that war

That makes no sense.

It must be a blow to your pride to admit that the US Military saved Kuwait from Saddam.

Why?

what i believe is the US military saved the oil wells not Kuwait. If it wants to save for implementing peace then it wouldn't ask for Billions of Dollars in return. Oman did also participated in that war and there were many Omani soldiers killed but Oman didnt ask for money, instead they refused them.

now here we can say we did this for our Kuwaiti brothers and sisters
see the difference ? it's not a matter of pride.

When I was in the region I know the majority of Oman's defense budget was in protecting the border with Saudi Arabia.

There were close encounters with the Saudis in the past, it once escalated to the level of having an Omani battalion stationed on the northern borders with Saudi Arabia.

This is a big joke and can't be true. Israel is a military state, that is, its military was formed before everything else, and its their military that keeps them alive.

Also, Saudi Arabia, it recently spent billions on British planes.

Ignore Wikipedia when it comes to such matter, I once read that Oman has a Common, as opposed to Civil, legislative system. Ignore them.