The New York Times reports that the United States is the world's top arm supplier and the country's lead grew last year amid the global recession.
In 2008, the U.S. was responsible for more than two-thirds of all foreign weapons deals, according to the findings of the nonpartisan Congressional Research Service (CRS) in a study titled "Conventional Arms Transfers to Developing Nations".
The report, which will be available to Congress on Tuesday, describes the growth of American arms sales during a global recession as "extraordinary", especially when taking into consideration the "overall decline in weapons sales worldwide in 2008".
The United States signed weapons agreements valued at $37.8 billion in 2008, or 68.4 percent of all business in the global arms bazaar, up significantly from American sales of $25.4 billion the year before...
The growth in weapons sales by the United States last year was particularly noticeable against worldwide trends. The value of global arms sales in 2008 was $55.2 billion, a drop of 7.6 percent from 2007 and the lowest total for international weapons agreements since 2005.
The findings that armaments spending declined in 2008 comes after a year of record growth in 2007, according to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) annual Yearbook on Armaments, Disarmament, and International Security published in June 2008.
The Guardian reported at the time that SIPRI found global military spending hit a new record level in 2007 and the U.S. accounted for more than half the total increase.
Overall, the U.S. accounted for 42 percent of the world's total military spending at $607 billion. China has the second highest amount of military expenditures at $84.9 billion. The estimated global military expenditure rose by 45 percent over the past decade to $1.46 trillion.
The BBC News noted that even during the recession, the defense industry remains healthy in contrast with civilian aerospace and airlines.
In total, the 100 leading defence manufacturers sold arms worth $347bn during 2007, the most recent year for which reliable data are available. Almost all the companies were American or European. Some 61% of the total was accounted for by 44 US companies, with 32 West European companies accounting for a further 31%. Other companies were Russian, Japanese, Israeli and Indian.
According to SIPRI's findings, the world's top 10 global arms producers in 2007 were:
- Boeing $30.5 billion
- BAE Systems $29.9 billion
- Lockheed Martin $29.4 billion
- Northrop Grumman $24.6 billion
- General Dynamics $21.5 billion
- Raytheon $19.5 billion
- EADS (West Europe) $13.1 billion
- L-3 Communications $11.2 billion
- Finmeccanica $9.9 billion
- Thales $9.4 billion
According to the NYT, the CRS report found in 2008:
Weapons sales to developing nations reached $42.2 billion in 2008, only a nominal increase from the $41.1 billion in 2007.
The United States was the leader not only in arms sales worldwide, but also in sales to nations in the developing world, signing $29.6 billion in weapons agreements with these nations, or 70.1 percent of all such deals.
In 2008, Russia was a distance second with $3.3 billion in arms sales to the developing world and France came in third with $2.5 billion in developing world arms sales. "The top buyers in the developing world in 2008 were the United Arab Emirates, which signed $9.7 billion in arms deals; Saudi Arabia, which signed $8.7 billion in weapons agreements; and Morocco, with $5.4 billion in arms purchases."
With many of the developing world's top arms buyers being in the Middle East, the U.S. may be adding fuel to a potential explosive area of the world. Is "Made in the U.S.A." the message Americans really want stamped on two-thirds of the bombs and bullets that could be used in anger around the world?