Arms industry

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(Redirected from Arms trade)

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The arms industry is a massive global industry. Its products include guns, ammunition, missiles, military aircraft, and their associated consumables and systems. The arms trade is the exchange of arms or weapons among two or more parties, except for exclusively sovereign nations.

1 Global impact
2 Top 8 arms exporters in 2004
3 World Arms Exports
4 United States arms trade
- 4.1 International military education and training
5 List of major weapon manufacturers
6 Institutes participating in weapon research and warfare simulation
7 See also
8 External links

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Global impact

It is estimated that yearly, over 900 billion dollars is spent on arms.Template:Fact Almost every industrialized country in the world has a domestic arms industry to supply its own military forces. Some countries also have a substantial legal or illegal domestic trade in weapons for use by its citizens. The illegal trade in small arms is prevalent in many countries and regions affected by political instability. Frequently, there are links between the legal arms trade and the illegal arms trade, with legally purchased weaponry being re-sold for illegal purposes. The arms industry can thus pose problems related to its lack of transparency, as both legal and illegal contracts are often made in secret.

Contracts to supply a given county's military are awarded by the government, making arms contracts of substantial political importance. The link between politics and the arms trade can result in the development of what President Eisenhower described as a military-industrial complex, where the armed forces, commerce, and politics become closly linked.

The Control Arms Campaign, founded by Amnesty International, Oxfam, and the International Network on Small Arms, estimates that there are over 600 million items of small arms in circulation, and that over 1135 companies based in more than 98 different countries are manufacturing small arms as well as their various components and ammunition.Template:Fact

For many people, the arms trade is problematic as they may see supplying the weapons for a conflict as morally akin to becoming involved oneself, but at negligible personal, national or corporate risk. Essentially, they view the arms industry as means of profiting from war and death when failure to supply arms could lead to an early disengagement.

India and China were the biggest arms importers in 2002, 2003 and 2004 [1].

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Top 8 arms exporters in 2004

COUNTRY, CURRENT US$, 1990 US$

United States, $18.5billion, $5.4bn
Russia, $4.6billion, $6.2bn
France, $4.4bn, $2.1bn
United Kingdom, $1.9bn, $985million
Germany, $900m, $1.1bn
Canada, $900m, $543m
China, $700m, $125m
Israel, $500m, $283m

Figures are in United States dollars. Sources: CRS and SIPRI

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World Arms Exports

**% of World Arms Exported by Region**
Region	1984	1994	2004
North America	25.0%	57.2%	63.2%
Western Europe	26.5%	26.3%	--
Eastern Europe	39.3%	8.6%	--
Europe	--	--	30.5%

Source: Arms Export Trends, [2] Source: Arms Production Trends 2004, [3]

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United States arms trade

The United States is by far the largest exporter of weapons in the world, selling almost twice as many weapons as the next 14 countries combined. Military sales account for about 18 percent of the national budget, far and away the greatest proportion of any other nation. (Estimated budget authority as presented in the President's budget.) Some say American governments cannot reduce arms sales because of the consequent fall in GDP. (See John Ralston Saul's The Collapse of Globalism, 2005)

U.S. arms are sold either as foreign military sales (FMS), in which the Pentagon is an intermediate negotiator, and direct commercial sales (DCS), where a company directly negotiates with its buyer. Many sales require a license from the State Department. The Defense Department manages the excess defense articles (EDA), weapons from the US military given away or sold at bargain prices, emergency drawdowns, assistance provided at the discretion of the President, and international military education and training (IMET).

From 1989 to 1996, the global value of direct commercial arms sales was US$257 billion, of which 45% was exported from the US. According to the 2005 annual US congress reports, 58% of all US arms trade contracts are made with developing countries.

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International military education and training

In fiscal year 2002, $70 million USD was spent on IMET for 113 countries. During this same year, $46 million worth of drawdowns were provided to Nigeria ($4 million), Afghanistan ($2 million), Georgia ($25 million), the Philippines ($10 million) and Tunisia ($5 million).

Defense contractors are weapon manufacturers or companies participating in weapon research and warfare simulation.