{"id":6964,"date":"2024-03-14T22:57:56","date_gmt":"2024-03-14T17:27:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/55nda.com\/blogs\/anil-khosla\/?p=6964"},"modified":"2025-01-04T14:46:20","modified_gmt":"2025-01-04T09:16:20","slug":"trends-in-international-arms-transfers-2019-2023","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/55nda.com\/blogs\/anil-khosla\/2024\/03\/14\/trends-in-international-arms-transfers-2019-2023\/","title":{"rendered":"450: TRENDS IN INTERNATIONAL ARMS TRANSFERS (2019-2023)"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Pics Courtesy Internet<\/span><\/p>\n

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Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI), recently published its fact sheet about trends in international arms transfer covering the last five-year period i.e. 2014-23 and compared it with data from the previous five years of 2014-18. The gist of it is as follows:-<\/span><\/p>\n

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The global volume of international arms transfers decreased marginally, by 3.3 per cent.<\/span><\/p>\n

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Imports of major arms by states in Europe increased by 94 per cent between 2014\u201318 and 2019\u201323.<\/span><\/p>\n

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There were overall decreases in arms transfers to all other regions, but states in Asia and Oceania and the Middle East continued to import arms in much larger volumes than those in Europe.<\/span><\/p>\n

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Nine of the 10 biggest arms importers in 2019\u201323, including the top 3 of India, Saudi Arabia and Qatar, were in Asia and Oceania or the Middle East.<\/span><\/p>\n

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Ukraine became the fourth biggest arms importer globally after it received transfers of major arms from over 30 states in 2022\u201323.<\/span><\/p>\n

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Arms exports by the United States, the world\u2019s largest arms supplier, rose by 17 per cent between 2014\u201318 and 2019\u201323, while those by Russia fell by more than half (\u201353 per cent).<\/span><\/p>\n

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France\u2019s arms exports grew by 47 per cent and it moved just ahead of Russia to become the world\u2019s second-largest arms supplier.<\/span><\/p>\n

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THE EXPORTERS (2019\u201323)<\/u><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

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SIPRI has identified 66 states as exporters of major arms in 2019\u201323.<\/span><\/p>\n

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The five largest exporters of arms during that period\u2014the USA, France, Russia, China and Germany\u2014accounted for 75 per cent of all arms exports.<\/span><\/p>\n

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US and French arms exports rose between 2014\u201318 and 2019\u201323, while Russian, Chinese and German arms exports fell.<\/span><\/p>\n

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The USA and states in Western Europe together accounted for 72 per cent of all arms exports in 2019\u201323, compared with 62 per cent in 2014\u201318.<\/span><\/p>\n

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USA<\/u><\/span><\/p>\n

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The USA\u2019s arms exports grew by 17 per cent between 2014\u201318 and 2019\u201323 and its share of total global arms exports rose from 34 per cent to 42 per cent.<\/span><\/p>\n

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The USA delivered major arms to 107 states in 2019\u201323, which was more than the next two biggest exporters combined.<\/span><\/p>\n

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The volume of arms exported by the USA in 2019\u201323 was 282 per cent higher than that of France, the second biggest arms exporter globally.<\/span><\/p>\n

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In 2019\u201323 the largest share of US arms exports went to states in the Middle East (38 per cent).<\/span><\/p>\n

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US arms exports to states in Asia and Oceania increased by 14 per cent overall between 2014\u201318 and 2019\u201323, with the region account- ing for 31 per cent of all US arms exports in 2019\u201323.<\/span><\/p>\n

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Three states in the region were among the 10 largest recipients of US arms in 2019\u201323: Japan accounted for 9.5 per cent of all US arms exports, Australia for 7.1 per cent and South Korea for 5.3 per cent.<\/span><\/p>\n

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A total of 28 per cent of US arms exports went to states in Europe in 2019\u201323, which was up from 11 per cent in 2014\u201318. US arms exports to the region increased by just over 200 per cent between the two periods. Ukraine accounted for 4.7 per cent of all US arms exports and 17 per cent of those to Europe.<\/span><\/p>\n

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Deliveries of combat aircraft typically make up a significant part of the USA\u2019s total arms exports. It delivered 420 combat aircraft in 2019\u201323. Of these, 249 were advanced F-35 aircraft, which were delivered to a total of 10 states and accounted for 24 per cent of all US arms exports. The USA has many pending arms export deliveries, including a total of 1071 combat aircraft, of which 785 are F-35s.<\/span><\/p>\n

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France<\/u><\/span><\/p>\n

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France narrowly overtook Russia to become the world\u2019s second largest exporter of major arms in 2019\u201323.<\/span><\/p>\n

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France delivered major arms to 64 states in 2019\u201323, but India was by far the largest recipient, accounting for 29 per cent of French arms exports.<\/span><\/p>\n

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The bulk of France\u2019s arms exports in 2019\u201323 went to states in Asia and Oceania (42 per cent of arms exports) and the Middle East (34 per cent).<\/span><\/p>\n

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France has been trying to expand its arms sales to other European states for many years; however, its exports to European states in 2019\u201323 accounted for only 9.1 per cent of its total arms exports. More than half of its European arms exports (53 per cent) went to Greece, mostly made up of transfers of 17 Rafale combat aircraft.<\/span><\/p>\n

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A sharp rise in deliveries of Rafale combat aircraft accounted for most of the growth in French arms exports in 2019\u201323. France exported 23 Rafales in 2014\u201318. This increased to 94 in 2019\u201323, representing just under one third (31 per cent) of French arms exports in the period. A further 193 Rafales were on order for export as at the end of 2023. However, most of the aircraft France has already delivered (96 out of 117) and those on order (178 out of 193) are for states outside Europe\u2014Egypt, India, Indonesia, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates.<\/span><\/p>\n

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This highlights the challenge France still faces in selling its major arms to European states, especially in the context of the strong competition from the USA. Notably, 8 out of the 10 European states that preselected or ordered combat aircraft in 2019\u201323 opted for US F-16s or F-35s, with only Croatia and Greece opting for the Rafale.<\/span><\/p>\n

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Russia<\/u><\/span><\/p>\n

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Russia\u2019s arms exports fell by 53 per cent between 2014\u201318 and 2019\u201323 and it accounted for 11 per cent of total global arms exports. It delivered major arms to 41 states in 2019\u201323.<\/span><\/p>\n

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In 2019 the annual volume of Russian arms exports was at a similar level to that in each of the preceding 20 years. However, the export volumes in 2020, 2021 and 2022 were at much lower levels than in 2019, and in 2023 the volume was 52 per cent lower than in 2022. Another indication of the decline of Russia as a global supplier of arms is that whereas 31 states received major arms from Russia in 2019, only 14 did in 2022 and that number fell to 12 in 2023.<\/span><\/p>\n

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States in Asia and Oceania received 68 per cent of total Russian arms exports in 2019\u201323, while Middle Eastern and African states received 13 per cent and 10 per cent respectively.<\/span><\/p>\n

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Just under two-thirds of Russian arms exports went to three states in 2019\u201323: India (34 per cent), China (21 per cent) and Egypt (7.5 per cent).<\/span><\/p>\n

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India was also the largest recipient of Russian arms in 2014\u201318, but exports to India decreased by 34 per cent between 2014\u201318 and 2019\u201323, while exports to China decreased by 39 per cent and to Egypt by 54 per cent.<\/span><\/p>\n

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Algeria and Vietnam were the third and fourth largest recipients of Russian arms in 2014\u201318; however, exports to Algeria (\u201383 per cent) and Vietnam (\u201391 per cent) dropped significantly between the two periods.<\/span><\/p>\n

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The low volume of pending deliveries of major arms from Russia suggests that Russian arms exports are likely to remain well below the level reached in 2014\u201318, for at least the short term.<\/span><\/p>\n

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China<\/u><\/span><\/p>\n

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China accounted for 5.8 per cent of total global arms exports in 2019\u201323. Its arms exports decreased by 5.3 per cent between 2014\u201318 and 2019\u201323.<\/span><\/p>\n

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The bulk of Chinese arms exports (85 per cent) went to states in Asia and Oceania, followed by states in Africa (9.9 per cent). China delivered major arms to 40 states in 2019\u201323, but well over half of its arms exports (61 per cent) went to just one state\u2014Pakistan.<\/span><\/p>\n

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Others<\/u><\/span><\/p>\n