For several years, world arms exports have been dominated by the United States, being the first global marketer, and of Russia, standing out as the second, especially during the last three decades.
According to estimates from the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (Sipri), the foreign sale of US arms between 2013 and 2017 and from 2018 to 2022 increased 14%, representing this country 40% of world exports, compared to 33% registered in the previous estimate.
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On the other hand, this market for Russia has represented a great decrease, since during those same periods, its export of arms fell 31%, as well as its participation in world international trade, since the data decreased 16%, compared to 22% previous. According to the Institute’s report, Russian arms exports dropped from 8 of its 10 largest recipients between 2013-17 and 2018-22.
Additionally, it is highlighted that the international arms trade to India, “the largest recipient of Russian arms”, fell 37%, while other of its seven recipients also decreased 59%.
However, the report highlights that Russian arms exports increased by 39% to China and Egypt with 44%, becoming Moscow’s second and third largest recipients.
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About, Siemon T. Wezeman, principal investigator of the Sipri Arms Transfer Program, He said the invasion of Ukraine is likely to further limit Russia’s arms exports.
“This is because Russia will prioritize the supply of its military and demand from other states will remain low due to trade sanctions on Russia and increasing pressure from the US and its allies not to buy Russian weapons.“, said.
However, France increased its arms exports 44% between 2013-17 and 2018-22, like its global participation that went from 7.1% to 11%.
Most of the trade was directed to states in Asia, Oceania and the Middle East. For its part, India received 30% of France’s arms exports in 2018-22, thus displacing the United States as the second largest arms supplier to India after Russia.
To its turn, Pieter D. Wezeman, principal investigator of the Sipri Arms Transfer Program, stated that “France is gaining a larger share of the global arms market as Russian arms exports decline”. He added that this is likely to continue considering that by the end of 2022, France had more arms export orders than Russia.
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Weapons.
Regarding the import of arms, the report ensures that Ukraine became the third country that imports arms worldwide. This behavior is the result of military aid from the United States and many European states after the Russian invasion of Ukrainian territory in February 2022.
For his part, Asia and Oceania are the main importing region, receiving 41% of the main arms transfers in 2018-22. Arms entry into East Asia increased 21% between 2013–17 and 2018–22. Meanwhile, imports from China grew 4.1%.
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According to the document, in the general world context, imports fell in Africa 40%, as in the Americas which fell 21%.
The Sipri stipulates that European NATO states increased their arms imports by 65% as they sought to strengthen their arsenals in response to a greater perceived threat from Russia.
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