Ukrainian soldiers fire on Russian positions with a US-supplied M777 howitzer in Ukraine’s eastern Donetsk region, Saturday, June 18, 2022. photo credit: EFREM LUKATSKY
European countries increased major arms imports by 47% between 2013–17 and 2018–2022, even as the global volume of international arms transfers declined by 5.1%. If only those European states in the US-led NATO alliance are considered, arms imports increased by 65% over the same period.
Russia’s invasion of Ukraine last year prompted European countries to step up their defenses. Peter D. Wegemann, a senior researcher at the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI), said in a statement: “Even though arms transfers have declined globally, tensions between Russia and most other European states have increasingly increased in Europe. developed.” , SIPRI defines major arms as aircraft, warships, tanks, artillery, missiles and various heavy defense systems.
chart 1 Shows arms imports of selected European countries expressed in millions using SIPRI’s Trend Indicator Values (TIVs). It shows import data for five time periods: 1998–2002, 2003–2007, 2008–2012, 2013–2017 and 2018–2022.
chart 1
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SIPRI TIV is a measure of the volume of international transfers of major arms. TIV is based on the known unit production cost of a core set of weapons and is intended to represent a transfer of military resources rather than the financial value of the transfer. The purpose of this data is to provide a common unit to allow the measurement of trends in arms flows in particular countries and regions over time.
As seen in Chart 1, in several European countries, such as the Netherlands, Norway, Denmark, France, Belgium, Serbia, Belarus and Lithuania, arms imports in 2018–2022 are the highest of all periods considered. In other countries, such as the UK, Poland, Romania, Germany and Sweden, arms imports in the latest period are at least as high as in the previous five-year period (2013–2017).
The chart also shows a sharp increase in Ukraine’s arms imports from the US and Europe in the latest period. This makes it the world’s third largest importer of arms in 2022. Notably, from 1991, when Ukraine became independent amid the collapse of the Soviet Union, until the end of 2021, Ukraine imported fewer major weapons.
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While Europe’s share of the global volume of arms transfers has increased significantly, the share of West Asia, the Americas, and Asia and Oceania has decreased marginally over the past five years. The share of Africa decreased significantly during this period. chart 2 Shows sector-wise share of arms imports over the past two five-year periods.
chart 2
SIPRI data also shows that US arms exports grew by 14% between 2013-17 and 2018-22, and Washington accounted for 40% of global arms exports in 2018-22.
Meanwhile, Russia’s arms exports declined by 31% between the two periods and its share of global arms exports decreased from 22% to 16%, while France’s share increased from 7.1% to 11%.
Arms exports have long been dominated by the US and Russia, the two countries being the largest and second largest arms exporters for the past three decades, as shown in the figure. chart 3, However, the gap between them is widening, while the gap between Russia and France, the third largest arms supplier, has narrowed. The think-tank said it was likely that the invasion of Ukraine would further limit Russia’s arms exports because of Moscow’s need to prioritize supplying its own armed forces and lower demand from other states due to trade sanctions. .
chart 3
SIPRI, established in 1966, is an independent international institute dedicated to research into conflict, armaments, arms control and disarmament.
Source: Stockholm International Peace Research Institute’s (SIPRI) latest report titled “Trends in International Arms Transfers, 2022”
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