U.S. arms exports surge from Ukraine war
U.S. arms exports have skyrocketed since the Russian invasion of Ukraine, while arms imports to Europe have also skyrocketed.
According to the Sweden-based international organization Spree, at a time when other countries in the world are seeing a slight decrease in the import and export of weapons, Europe is on a contradictory path.
The Stockholm-based International Institute for Peacekeeping has released the details of the last year’s arms trade after reviewing the record of the last four years of global arms trade.
Spry researcher Peter Weisman told DW that two main trends can be seen in this latest report. One of which is the massive increase in arms shipments to European countries, while arms exports from the United States have also increased dramatically.
During the period 2018 to 2022, a five percent decline in global arms trade was recorded compared to 2013 to 2017. On the other hand, there was a 47% increase in the rate of weapons received from the United States in European countries, 65% of which were received by NATO member countries. The reason for this arms race is the Russian attack on Ukraine.
US exports to Ukraine, Saudi Arabia and Japan
In the past, Ukraine did not play a major role in the international arms trade. This country used to produce most of its defense needs, while Soviet-era weapons were also used for defense needs. However, in recent years, Ukraine has become the fourteenth largest importer of arms worldwide, while it ranks third in the world with only 2,222.
It is important to note that Sperry’s report also counts arms trade and free military assistance as arms transfers. Military assistance is usually based on old weapons, supplied by donor countries
France gains, Germany loses
The five major arms exporters are the United States, Russia, France, China and Germany. Although the rankings are unchanged from the previous report, significant changes have been noted for individual countries. For example, the United States previously topped the list, but according to the previous report, it was responsible for 14 percent of the world’s arms shipments, but according to the latest report, it is at 40 percent.
France’s supply of weapons has increased by forty-four percent compared to the previous report. However, the German military business has seen a decrease of thirty-five percent