The Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) revealed last week its annual report on the global arms trade.
The top 10 arms exporters in 2019-2023 included: The United States (42%), France (11%), Russia (11%), China (5.8%), Germany (5.6%), Italy (4.3%), the United Kingdom (3.7%), Spain (2.7%), Israel (2.4%) and South Korea (2%).
Turkey ranked 11th (1.6%) and its arms exports rose by 106 percent in the 2019-2023 period compared to the 2014-2018 period.
France has become the main European arms seller to the Middle East, overtaking Russia, according to new figures.
Sales of Rafale fighter aircraft to Qatar and Egypt have helped France become the world’s second-biggest military exporter, after the US.
Italy also took up a greater role in the Middle East region, including deliveries of frigates to Egypt and radar equipment to Bahrain.
Overall arms imports to the Middle East were lower in the period 2019 to 2023 than in the previous four years. About half came from the US.
“Despite an overall drop in arms imports to the Middle East, they remain high in some states, driven largely by regional conflicts and tensions,” said Zain Hussain, a researcher at SIPRI.
“Major arms imported in the past 10 years have been used widely in conflicts in the region, including in Gaza, Lebanon and Yemen,” he added.
Russia’s arms exports halved, as it gears its economy towards supplying its own military during the war in Ukraine.
France moved into the gap, increasing its overall arms exports by 47 per cent. More than a third of its sales went to the Middle East.
The rise in French sales “was largely due to deliveries of combat aircraft to India, Qatar and Egypt,” the institute noted.
French exports between 2019 and 2023 included 36 aircraft delivered to Qatar and three warships sold to Egypt, according to SIPRI’s database.
Sales to the Middle East come as France struggles to persuade allies in NATO to buy European, with some preferring off-the-shelf American or Israeli equipment.
Egypt is expecting another 30 aircraft from France, and has also bought two frigates from Italy and two submarines from Germany.
The Middle East took up 71 per cent of Italian arms exports, as Italy’s total sales almost doubled compared to 2015 to 2019.
Italy was the second-biggest arms supplier to Egypt, Kuwait and Turkey in the past four years. Qatar bought four Italian frigates and Egypt two.
Germany’s overall exports were down. It recently signalled it is open to lifting a veto on the sale of Eurofighter jets to Saudi Arabia.
The UK also sold less equipment. Its exports included the delivery of Royal Navy offshore patrol vessels to Bahrain. (Photo: Qatar Emiri Air Force Rafale fighter aircraft after receiving fuel from a U.S. Air Force KC-135 Stratotanker December 31, 2020 © Staff Sgt. Sean Carnes/U.S. Air Force)
