The SIPRI Yearbokk is fundamental research into international security, armaments and disarmament, highly appreciated by military experts all over the world. It gains a deep insight into a wide spectrum of problems, from military spending and the munitions industry, arms trade and military technology to such issues as non-proliferation of mass destruction weapons and their delivery systems, control over armaments, the emergence and combat of new threats. The versatility of themes treated, the depth of vision and their objective coverage have won the book such references as "the thickest military manual" or "the encyclopaedia of military knowledge". It is a handbook for scholars, government officials and statesmen, all those who make decisions on military issues.
The new yearbook focuses on the events of late 2002 and early 2003, global and regional security, the combat against terrorism, the US policies and military doctrine, criticism of the US activities in Iraq, the evolution of nuclear confrontation in Southern Asia and arms systems to prevail in the future-drones, cruise missiles used against ground-based targets and space systems. The traditional sections are supplemented with a special appendix dealing with the influence of the Iraq war on international security and providing the analysis of its impact on reforms in the Russian armed forces; the Russian defence budget for 2004 is also examined.
Alexey Arbatov, a corresponding member of the Russian Academy of Sciences, believes that the new joint treatise by scholars and researchers of different countries will help Russian military experts to expand their vision of world security trends and to find their fitting place in this process.
