Bombs away! U.S. remains global master of war

Social justice news
September 2001

U.S. remains global master of war
Bush stem cell decision condemned
Drought adds to woes in hard-hit Central America
From welfare poor to working poor?
Layoffs lead to more lucre for U.S. CEOs
New report says "three strikes" strikes out
Report warns of slowing progress on child hunger

Other news this month

U.S. remains global master of war
We're # 1—again!—at least in terms of selling weapons to the developing world. Unfortunately, according to the Council for a Livable World, undemocratic regimes and gross human rights abusers are among frequent U.S. arms customers.

Continuing its dominance of the global arms trade, the United States last year controlled half of the developing world's arms market with $12.6 billion in sales, according to an annual report published last month by the Congressional Research Service. The report, "Conventional Arms Transfers to Developing Nations, 1993-2000," details U.S. and foreign countries' arms sales to developing countries.

Broadly speaking, despite the impertinent end of the Cold War, the international arms trade remains in good health. Arms sales sales grew 8 percent last year, to nearly $36.9 billion, as the United States further consolidated its stature as the supplier of choice, especially among the world's poorest nations. American manufacturers signed contracts for just under $18.6 billion, or about half of all weapons sold on the world market during 2000, with 68 percent of the American weapons bought by developing countries.

U.S. dominance shows little sign of weakness—the U.S. share of the market in 2000 was up substantially from a 36 percent share in 1999. The U.S. sells major systems like jet fighters, upgrades existing equipment, and sells "a wide variety of spare parts, ammunition, ordnance, training and support services," according to the report.

The next closest competitors to U.S. arms contractors came from Russia, with $7.7 billion; France, with sales valued at $4.1 billion; Germany, with $1.1 billion; Britain, with $600 million; China, with $400 million; and Italy, with $100 million.

The study's author, Richard F. Grimmett, notes in an introduction that developing nations remain the largest market for weapons, and a growing one. "Despite global changes since the cold war's end, the developing world continues to be the primary focus of foreign arms sales activity by conventional weapons suppliers," wrote Grimmett, a specialist in national defense at the research service.

According to the CLW, data in the report refutes concerns by the U.S. defense industry that the U.S. is at a competitive disadvantage relative to Western European arms suppliers. In 2000, Western European arms sales to developing nations declined to $2.1 billion, only 12.2 percent of the developing world market in 2000. Not counting France's $1.5 billion frigate sale to Singapore, and Germany's sale of three diesel submarines to South Korea (two weapons the U.S. does not build), Europe's share of the market was almost non-existent in 2000.

Domestically, the export of ever more sophisticated weaponry accelerates the development and procurement of advanced weapons in order to maintain U.S. superiority on the battlefield, the CLW charges, adding that U.S. support of some of the world's most odious regimes—Mobutu Sese Seko, Suharto, Saddam Hussein and the Shah of Iran—contradicts a steady stream of U.S. rhetoric directed to the developing world about the importance of human rights and democratically elected governments.

The data shows that there are few restraints on weapons exports. Worldwide arms sales rose in 2000 for the third year in a row. The previous year, international weapons sales were nearly $34 billion, when measured in constant year 2000 dollars. The value of sales agreements with developing nations was $25.4 billion in 2000, the highest in constant dollars since 1994.

The two leaders in arms sales, the United States and Russia, both increased their new contracts in 2000.

After reaching a peak of $2.7 billion in weapons sales in 1999, China dropped to $400 million last year. Pakistan remained a major buyer.

The increase in sales by the United States, from $12.9 billion in 1999 to nearly $18.6 billion, was powered by a $6.4 billion sale of 80 F-16 fighter jets to the United Arab Emirates. The Emirates, by virtue of its blockbuster purchase of jets from the United States, led the developing world in signing weapons contracts in 2000, with $7.4 billion. India, which signed $4.8 billion in sales deals, ranked second, followed by South Korea, which signed $2.3 billion in contracts.

For more information:
Arms Trade Oversight Project
Misc. Arms Trade links
Hot topics in Arms Trade

Back to page top