In
in Barcelona: on the Spain's Armed Forces Day
According to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute from 2012 to 2016 Spain was the seventh world’s largest arms exporter country after United States, Russia, China, France, Germany and United Kingdom . The publication Business insider estimated that Spain largest clients were Australia (34% of all sales), Turkey (14% of all sales) and Saudi Arabia (8,3% of all sales) during this period. On the other hand according to Pere Ortega (www.centredelas.org) “after being in decline for ten continous years, the budget of the Spanish Ministry of Defense has increased by 32% to 2016. This enormous increase, as well as the budgetary fights that have been applied to hide the real military costs from the public opinion, are analyzed in the publication The absurdity of military spending (June 2017). Further, this report sets out the criteria for the counting items established by Centre Delàs, which reveal that the current Spanish military expenditure amounts to 18,776 million euros, 51,4 million dolars a day and 1,64% of the GDP / Gross Domestic Product. This is well above the 1% as indicated by Minister of Defence María Dolores de Cospedal”. According to Pere Ortega and Xavier Bohigas (Working papers del Centre Delàs / May 2018) “the Defense budget is projected to rise by 10.5% in 2018 compared to the previous year. This increase would confirm what has already been announced by the Minister of Defense, María Dolores de Cospedal, in her effort to reach 2% of GDP in military spending by the year 2024. (…) The actual Spanish military expenditure in 2018 will average €54.6 million per day, standing at 1,67% of GDP and 4,42% of the budget.” El día de las Fuerzas Armadas / the Armed Forces Day is observed in Spain since 1978. It started as a purely military celebration, but became with time a more colourful and popular event, the central acts of which are held each year at a different city. Other acts of celebration are held in other cities, as for instance in Barcelona. The Armed Forces and those killed in service are also honoured at the celebrations of Spain’s National Day on 12th October. These photos were taken El Bruch Military Barracks in Barcelona on Saturday 26th May 2018 during the Spain’s Armed Forces Day. One of the most important activities of this event is the exhibition of the different military equipment and weapons aquired by Spanish Army. Some of this equipment has been made in Spain by companies as for instance Santa Barbara Sistemas, which exports its products around the world. Other military equipment has been imported from other countries as for instance from Germany, France, Italy, South-Africa, Sweden and Israel.