BY Richard Norton-Taylor

The west’s decades-long advantage in military technology is being eroded as defence spending in the rest of the world, notably Asia, soars, an authoritative report says.

The latest annual Military Balance by the International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS) shows that advances in weapons-related technology once the preserve of the west – including cruise missiles, unmanned drones and electronic warfare – are becoming increasingly accessible to more and more countries.

The number of countries known to operate UAVs (unmanned aerial vehicles) has doubled over the past five years, and China has exported them to Iraq and Nigeria.