WASHINGTON – The sale of weapons in both developed and developing countries nearly doubled to 8.55 billion dollars in 2011, the U.S. being the dominant supplier for three-fourths of global weapons sales, reports Tiffany Hsu of Los Angeles Times.
Weapon sales by the U.S. tripled to a record high of 66.3 billion dollars- an increase of 78 percent of all weapon sales, according to a report from the Congressional Research Service. India made 6.9- billion dollar arms bill from U.S. India is planning to buy 100 billion dollar worth of new weapons over the next ten years, arm sales may be the best way for the United States to revive U.S.-Indian relations. In 2005, U.S. President George W. Bush had granted India unique nuclear deal, offering to assist India’s civilian nuclear program of the Nuclear Non-proliferation Treaty. The Indians viewed this treaty as a possible long term partner with the United States.
Saudi Arabia was the biggest arms buyer among the developing countries from the United States. The country had spent 33.7 billion dollar on weapons, according to the reports. The United States had announced that it would sell nearly 30 billion dollar worth of F-15SA Fighter aircrafts as well as munitions and spare parts to Saudi Arabia. The U.S. arms sale in the Middle East sends a strong message that United States is committed to stability in the Middle East and the Persian Gulf.
Russia, the world’s number two arms dealer, made 4.8 billion dollar in sales in 2011. In 2010, Russia had signed deals with Syria under which warplanes, anti-tanks weapons and air defense systems were sold to Syria by Russia. France had signed arms sales valued at 4.4 billion dollars from the U.S. and is number 4 as the biggest world arms retailer, after U.S., Russia and the UK. The four major European suppliers are France, the United Kingdom, Germany and Italy.
The United States remained the world’s leading arm suppliers, nearly all other major suppliers, except France, saw declines in 2011, according to the reports.The key U.S. weapons sales to other countries in 2011 included Lockheed Martin Corp’s Terminal High Altitude Area Defense, an advanced missile shields which was sold to the United Arab Emirates for 3.49 billion dollars. Also, 16 Chinook helicopters built by Boeing were sold at 960 million dollars to United Arab Emirates. Patriot antimissile batteries were sold to Taiwan for 2 billion dollar. A 4.1 billion dollar agreement was made with India for 10 C-17 transport planes built by Boeing.
In 2011, 83.9 percent of global arms transfer agreements were made with the developing countries. Despite the flow in sales, the reports found that the international arms market was not possibly growing overall. Still, arms dealing have been a productive business and the competition among the countries have become intense. The suppliers have attracted the customers by providing them with flexible finance options and licensed products in their dealings.
