A crisis-free army

Some weeks ago we published a post comparing cuts in fire trucks (and in fire-fighting in general) and the purchase of 772 military trucks by the Spanish army, for which the Spanish government paid 149 million euros (VAT not included). It seems that the economical crisis is not affecting the Spanish Ministry of Defense, and the purchase of military trucks is not an isolated example. 
Recently, the Cabinet of Spain approved an extraordinary credit of 1,782 million euros for arms. This means increasing the Defense budget by 28.21%. Social services suffer major cuts, but the army budget is still growing.
Another example of wasting money in the Spanish army is the purchase of military helicopters NH90 announced by the Spanish Government. The initial order, submitted in 2006, was 45 helicopters, and the current order is 38. Some days ago the Spanish King flew one of these helicopters as a grand debut in the Spanish society. 
Every helicopter costs 25 million euros, so this purchase means 950 million euros wasted in useless means of transport for Spanish citizens. And meanwhile, due to the economical crisis, the Spanish government makes major cuts in civil helicopters, to the point that in Andalusia and the Balearic Islands there is no helicopter for mountain rescue. The reason: there is not money left. 


Sources:

Post at Delivering data about the purchase of military trucks:
http://www.deliveringdata.com/2012/08/trucks-versus-trucks.html
Extraordinary credit of 1,782 million euros:
http://thefreeonline.wordpress.com/2012/09/14/bankrupt-spain-defense-budget-increased-by-30/
NH90 helicopter: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NHIndustries_NH90
The Spanish King wants to check the new helicopter:
https://www.eurocopter.com/site/en/press/King-Juan-Carlos-I-Takes-to-the-Air-in-the-Spanish-NH90-Helicopter_970.html?iframe=true&width=700
Cuts in rescue helicopters: http://desnivel.com/escalada-roca/retiran-los-helicopteros-de-rescate-de-bomberos-en-andalucia-y-mallorca-y-mas-problemas-en-alicante