Thirty Six percent of all global arms trades during last five years have been US weaons

(March 15) Thirty six percent of all weapons traded globally are now made in the US. Major arms transfers from the US went to 96 different countries. Russia is the second largest exporter but its shipments have been dropping and now are 21 percent of global exports.

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Five countries make over three quarters of global arms

The five largest exporters of weapons over the last five years are: US, Russia, France, Germany, and China. During the period 2015-2019 the five accounted for 76 percent of all arms exports. The the US and Russia are number one and two, France has established itself as the third largest dealer, according to date from the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) which recently reported on trends during the last five years. France had the largest increase in arms exports within the top five exporters reaching their highest level since 1990 and accounted for 7.9 percent of total arms exports. German and Chinese exports also rose.

SIPRI researcher Alexandra Kuimova noted that Russia had lost traction in India a main recipient of Russian arms and this has led to the Russian decline in exports. The decline has led to a widening gap between US and Russian sales increasing the US lead.

The total volume of exports of major arms during the last five years was 5.5 percent higher than in the 2010 to 2014 period and a full 20 percent higher than between 2005-2009.

Middle East imports increasing

The SIPRI report indicates that countries in the MIddle East have been increasing their weapons imports over the five year period by 61 percent. Saudi Arabia is the largest importer of weapons worldwide. Pieter Wezeman a senior researcher at SIPRI says that fully half of US exports during the last five years have been to the Middle East and half of those have been to Saudi Arabia.

European countries account for over a quarter of global arms trade

Of total arms trade, European countries were responsible for over 25 percent of the total. During the last five years exports have grown by more than 5 percent between 2015 to 2019. From the five year period 2010-14 and 2015-19 arms exports to the Middle East and Europe increase while exports to Africa, North and South America, Asia and Oceania decreased.

Top countries for military spending

A SIPRI report from 2018 lists the top countries in terms of military spending. The top five were in order: US, China, Saudi Arabia, China and India in 2017. Worldwide expenditures that year were estimated at $1.7 trillion. This is the highest level of military spending since the end of the Cold War. The top five countries accounted for 60 percent of total spending. In 2017 the US alone spent $610 billion on its military. This is over a third of total world expenditures. It spends 2.7 times as much as second highest spender China.

Previously published in the Digital Journal

US accounts for about 79 percent of global arms trade about $143 billion per year

(February 6) The world spends a total of nearly $3 trillion a year on armaments. According to the US State Department the US drives about 79percent of the world total.

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The US State Dept. World Military Expenditures and Arms Transfers report publish last December represents the latest assessment of world military expenditure from 2007 to 2017.

Growth in international arms transfers

From 2007 to 2017 international arms transfers rose about 65 percent from about $119 billion to almost $195 billion according to figures from the US State Department's Bureau of Arms Control, Verification and Compliance that compiled the report.

The report claims that both the growth in the world arms trade and the high proportion of arms imports coming from the US appear largely due to the reliance of rich often democratically-governed governments on US arms according to the report. The existence of what is often called the military-industrial complex especially in the US may have a considerable effect on this development as well.

Wikipedia provides a short description of the complex: "The military–industrial complex (MIC) is an informal alliance between a nation's military and the defense industry that supplies it, seen together as a vested interest which influences public policy..The term is most often used in reference to the system behind the military of the United States, where it is most prevalent due to close links between defense contractors, the Pentagon and politicians and gained popularity after a warning on its detrimental effects in the farewell address of President Dwight D. Eisenhower on January 17, 1961."

US dominates arms export business

According to the report the US accounts for 79 percent of the world arms trade or on average $143 billion annually. The European Union was responsible for about 10 percent. Russia had only 5 percent and China less than 2 percent. The US exported four times more than the next ten countries combined. The State Dept. claims that over half of the exports have been delivered to the richest and most democratic fifth of the world's population. However, the US also delivers to authoritarian regimes such as Saudi Arabia and US close allies such as Israel. The report claims that countries in the richest fifth of the world population export 97 percent of arms and import more than 63 percent. The report also notes that nations in the most democratic fifth of world population account for about 92 percent of world arms exports and 50 percent of world arms imports.

Often advanced capitalist countries which are democratic develop their own military industrial complexes so that they manufacture most world armaments for export, however many authoritarian countries such as Saudi Arabia have little or no arms manufacturing facilities and thus must rely on imports. Export percentages have changed radically over time with respect to different countries as shown on the appended video.

Previously published in the DIgital Journal