Today
The British Armed Forces is a professional force with a strength in July 2012 of 184,160 regular and 36,190 volunteer reserve personnel. This gives a combined component strength of 220,350 personnel. In addition there were 181,720 regular reserves from all services of the British Armed Forces. The British Armed Forces constitute the second-largest military in the European Union in terms of professional personnel.
Britain has the fourth-largest defence budget in the world. The United States, China and Russia have larger defence expenditures, whilst France and Japan have a comparable expenditure. In September 2011, according to the Royal United Services Institute, current "planned levels of defence spending should be enough for the United Kingdom to maintain its position as one of the world's top military powers, as well as being one of NATO-Europe's top military powers. Its edge – not least its qualitative edge – in relation to rising Asian powers seems set to erode, but will remain significant well into the 2020’s, and possibly beyond."
However by 2012 there was a £63 billion gap between the ten year plan for defence spending and the available funds for it.
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