US dominates arms export market, India becomes second largest importer: Report

According to new data released by the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI), the largest exporters of arms during the past five years were the United States, Russia, France, Germany and China. The new data shows that the flow of arms to the Middle East has increased, with Saudi Arabia clearly being the world’s largest importer.

Hyderabad: The United States emerged as one of the largest arms exporter during the 2015-19 period and not surprisingly Saudi Arabia being the world's largest importer, a clear reference to the defence ties the middle-eastern nation has with the US.

According to Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI), the flow of arms to the conflict zones in the Middle East has increased, which becomes a major concern as the Arab counties have become fertile grounds for militancy and proxy wars.

Between 2010–14 and 2015–19, exports of major arms from the USA grew by 23 per cent, raising its share of total global arms exports to 36 per cent. In 2015–19 total US arms exports were 76 per cent higher than those of the second-largest arms exporter in the world, Russia.

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Ironically, both US and Russia are major players in the ongoing civil war in Syria, with Russia backing the President Bashar Assad-led government and US supports Kurdish forces in its fight against ISIL.

"Half of US arms exports in the past five years went to the Middle East, and half of those went to Saudi Arabia," says Pieter D. Wezeman, senior researcher at SIPRI.

Besides, India emerged as the second-largest arms importer in the world with Pakistan ranking 11th.

"Many of the world’s largest arms exporters have supplied these two states for decades, often exporting arms to both sides," SIPRI observed.

“While both countries have long-standing aims to produce their own major arms, they remain largely dependent on imports and have substantial outstanding orders and plans for imports of all types of major arms," the report said.

The report placed India 23rd among the world’s 25 largest arms exporters, with its main clients being Myanmar, Sri Lanka and Mauritius.

Other than US and Russia, French arms export also reached their highest level for any fiver-year period since 1990 and accounted for 7.9 per cent of total global arms export in 2015-19.

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"The French arms industry has benefited from the demand for arms in Egypt, Qatar and India," says Diego Lopes Da Silva, SIPRI Researcher.

Despite the wide-ranging concerns in the USA and the United Kingdom about Saudi Arabia’s military intervention in Yemen, both the USA and the UK continued to export arms to Saudi Arabia in 2015–19.

A total of 73 per cent of Saudi Arabia’s arms imports came from the USA and 13 per cent from the UK.

In 2015–19 Turkish arms imports were 48 per cent lower than in the previous five-year period, even though its military was fighting Kurdish rebels and was involved in the conflicts in Libya and Syria.

This decrease in imports can be explained by delays in deliveries of some major arms, the cancellation of a large deal with the USA for combat aircraft, and developments in the capability of the Turkish arms industry.