WASHINGTON — The United States remained far and above the rest of the world as the globe’s leading arms exporter, with Russia a distant second, a leading research group says.

The Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) said in a March 11 report that the gap between the United States and the rest of the world widened further in the most recent five-year period of 2014-18, with American exports rising to 36 percent of the global total from 30 percent in the previous period.

“The U.S.A. has further solidified its position as the world’s leading arms supplier,” said Aude Fleurant, director of the SIPRI Arms and Military Expenditure Program.

“[It] exported arms to at least 98 countries in the past five years; these deliveries often included advanced weapons such as combat aircraft, short-range cruise and ballistic missiles, and large numbers of guided bombs.”

The report highlighted the widening gap between Washington and Moscow in arms exports.

“U.S. exports of major arms were 75 percent higher than Russia’s in 2014–18 period, while they were only 12 percent higher in 2009–13,” SIPRI said in its report of global arms transfers.

“More than half (52 percent) of U.S. arms exports went to the Middle East in 2014–18,” it added.

SIPRI said Russia’s arms exports fell 17 percent in the 2014–18, with a reduction in arms imports by India and Venezuela the major factor in the decline.

The report said France (6.8 percent of the world total) was the third-highest arms exporter, followed by Germany (6.4 percent) and China (5.2 percent).

The top five countries accounted for 75 percent of the world total, the report said.

The combined total of European Union nations came to 27 percent of the global figure.

Among arms importers, Saudi Arabia was the leader, with 12 percent of the world total, up from 4.3 percent in the previous five-year period. Its total imports rose 192 percent in the most-recent period.

“Arms imports by some Arab states of the Gulf rose sharply [during the period],” the report said.

“Among the key reasons behind these increases were the mutual distrust between Iran on the one hand and Saudi Arabia and the U.A.E. [United Arab Emirates] on the other.”

It also cited the conflict in Yemen, considered by many to be a proxy war between Iran and Saudi Arabia; and the hostilities between a Saudi-led Arab coalition against tiny Gulf state Qatar.

Pakistan was the 11th top importer with 2.7 percent of the global total, but it represented a sharp decline from the 4.8 percent previously. Its main suppliers were China (70 percent), the United States (8.9 percent), and Russia (6 percent).

Its rival, India, was the second-largest importer, with Russia (58 percent), Israel (15 percent), and the United States (12 percent) the top suppliers.

In a report released in December 2018, SIPRI said arms exports by U.S. companies in 2017 amounted to $222.6 billion, while Russia had $37.7 billion in arms exports for that one year.

Source: https://en.radiofarda.com/a/us-russia-lead-world-global-arms-exports/29814338.html

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A study published by the Institute for National Security Studies (INSS) at Tel Aviv University has reviewed the history of arms deals between China, some Arab countries and Iran.

China’s arms exports to the Middle East began in the mid-1970s, and by 2017 it reached $12.73bn. Most of the Chinese arms sales in this area, which amounted to $8.8bn in total value, took place in the 1980s, during which China sold arms to both sides of the Iran-Iraq war. In the 1990s, after the end of the Cold War, China’s weapon exports to the Middle East fell to $1.8bn, mostly directed to Iran. This decline continued in the first decade of the 21st century, reaching $1.4bn, with a majority of exports to Iran and Egypt.

The value of Chinese arms exports between 2010 and 2017 reached $468mn, accounting for 3.7 per cent of China’s total military exports to the world, which reached $12.5bn. Thus, Russian and US weapon exports to the Middle East during this period amounted to $6.1bn and $30.1bn, respectively.

Chinese arms deal with Middle East countries

China signed the first security deal with a country in the Middle East, Egypt, in 1975. In the 1980s, the Egyptian authorities bought naval, items including submarines, missile boats and bombers Xi’an G-6 as well as fighter jets. At the turn of the 21st century, Egyptian military deals with China were focused on uncrewed aerial vehicles and the transfer of technology to manufacture such aircraft in Egypt. The two countries also signed an agreement to launch a second Egyptian satellite for surveillance.

Sino-Iraqi relations in the security field have begun in the 1980s, including deals where the Iraqi side bought fighter jets. This was done in parallel with other Chinese-Iranian deals, under which Iranian authorities also bought fighter jets during the Iran-Iraq war. The contracts also included Iraq’s purchase of anti-aircraft launchers and missiles. In contrast, the Iranian state focused its investments on rockets. After the war, Iraq bought drones from China; while, Iran has exported Chinese technology to develop its missile industry. During the Second Lebanon War in 2006, a Hezbollah-launched sea-to-sea missile (SSM) hit the Israeli corvette, INS Ahi-Hanit, which Israel said was developed by Iran by Chinese C-802 missile technology. According to the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), China has provided Iran with the necessary expertise in the manufacture of chemical weapons and chemical warheads for missiles, in addition to offering nuclear expertise.

Even though Turkey is a member of the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO), China has also supplied arms to the Turkish authorities since the 1980s, including missile launchers and 200 short-range ballistic missiles. In 2013, a Chinese company won a Turkish tender for the purchase of missile defence systems. The deal provoked a wave of anger among NATO member countries, and since then, there were no reports of other arms deals between Turkey and China.

China has made deals with Saudi Arabia, supplying it with missiles with a range of thousands of kilometres, mobile gun systems and uncrewed aerial vehicles.

The development of Chinese security industries

The study said that “the security industries in China are now working to improve the quality of their products in all fields, as well as their ability to produce, and are gradually equating them with the Russian and even Western countries’ industries in certain areas.” According to a Pentagon report, China’s production of ballistic missiles, guided missiles, surface-to-air missiles and air-to-air missiles for its military use and export has improved significantly in recent years. Most of China’s ballistic and guided missiles are close regarding performance to parallel products made by Western countries and Russia, some of which are destined for export.

China’s commercial and military air industries have developed in recent years, according to the study, and are manufacturing large cargo planes and fighter jets of the fourth and fifth generation, modern uncrewed aircraft for reconnaissance and attack, and helicopters.

China has also developed its naval industrial capabilities, including the construction of submarines, missile carriers, naval aviation and other maritime means through the development and expansion of shipyards. According to the US Department of Defence, China is the world’s largest ship manufacturer. Its warships are equipped with advanced anti-aircraft and anti-submarine protection, and it is developing offensive capabilities in this field.

According to a report by the US Department of Defence, China’s production capacity continues to progress in all areas of ground armies’ weapons, including modern tanks and artillery, but sometimes at the expense of its quality.

The study indicated that China’s interest in the Middle East is increasing, and its interests are expanding by energy considerations and the removal of terrorism from its borders, which means the expansion of its political and economic benefits. The Middle East is China’s primary energy source, as it is supplied with oil from Saudi Arabia and Iran. Also, the Middle East is a critical crossroads for the export of its goods.

Conflicts in the Middle East, following the “Arab Spring” and the conflict between Iran and Arab countries, have increased the demand for security imports. At the same time, the United States has begun to withdraw from the region, since President Barack Obama. The study said that this situation will increase the volume of China’s security exports to the Middle East in parallel with the amount of Chinese trade and investment in the region, and that even China can compete with the United States, Russia and the West in certain areas, especially following Western countries’ reluctance to sell weapons in anticipation of war crimes committed using these arms, and China has replaced them.

Israeli fears

The study considered that the expansion of China’s security export to the Middle East would gradually pose an increasing challenge for Israel and the Israeli army for the following reasons:

First, China supplies weapons to Iran, which is an enemy state for Israel. Iran transfers that weapon or the weapon it develops by Chinese experience to Hezbollah, Hamas and the Palestinian Islamic Jihad, which constitute resistance movements against Israel.

Second, most of the Chinese weapons that reach the region are used by the Chinese army mainly, and not widely deployed in the world. Therefore, “there is a challenge in identifying and responding to their technical, technological and performance capabilities.”

Third, unlike the US arms sales to countries in the region, China does not have the necessary legislation to maintain Israel’s qualitative military edge. China and Israel have no regular channel of dialogue on this issue.

Fourth, a growing Chinese export in areas where there is relative Israeli superiority, such as drones, increases competition for such an Israeli export to the world, including “pragmatic Sunni states.”The study concluded that “China’s arms production and security trade trends indicate that there is a possibility of change in this area and it requires increased Israeli follow-up. “The Israeli government should strive to open channels of dialogue with the Chinese government on the issue of security exports to the Middle East, through which it will be able to express its point of view and concern about the subject and try to reduce the risk that it might face. At the same time, the Israeli government and the Israel Security Agency should include this issue in the strategic dialogue with the United States, and reach common understandings on the development of these trends and the inevitability of its influence on the interests of the two countries, and the coordination of the actors of their policies regarding this subject.”

The research institute published the transactions in a book entitled Sino-Israel Relations: Opportunities and Challenges. The data attached to the study is based on information released by the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI).

Source: https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20190111-israeli-concerns-about-chinese-weapons-in-middle-east/

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Russia surpassed Britain, which had held the spot since 2002 and remains Western Europe’s No. 1 arms maker.

The Stockholm International Peace Research Institute said in its report on the world’s 100 biggest armaments groups that the combined arm sales of Russian companies amounted to $37.7 billion in 2017, or 9.5 percent of a total $398.2 billion, recording 8.5 percent year-on-year growth.

The annual report includes both domestic and foreign sales.

SIPRI senior researcher Siemon Wezeman said Russian weapons and weapon systems producers have been on a significant growth path ever since 2011.

“This is in line with Russia’s increased spending on arms procurement to modernize its armed forces,” Wezeman said.

For the first time in the report’s history, a Russian company — the Moscow-based and state-owned Almaz-Antey that makes advanced air defense systems among other things — was listed among the world’s top 10 weapons companies.

The report noted Russia started an initiative to consolidate its arms industry back in 2007 — an ongoing process that is expected to be completed soon.

Overall, the U.S. continued to dominate the list with 42 companies accounting for 57 percent of total sales, including the world’s largest arms producer, Lockheed Martin Corp.

As a notable development, the report also highlighted a 24 percent year-on-year rise in sales by Turkish arms companies in 2017. It was described as a reflection of “Turkey’s ambitions to develop its arms industry to fulfill its growing demand for weapons and become less dependent on foreign suppliers,” SIPRI senior researcher Pieter Wezeman said.

Chinese companies aren’t included in SIPRI’s report because of unreliable statistics.

Source: https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2018/12/10/world/russia-now-worlds-no-2-arms-producer-surpassing-britain-think-tank-reports/#.XA384JNKiUk

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