Despite the wars: Israel increases arms exports and climbs the world rankings

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The report, by the Swedish International Peace Research Institute, monitors all announced security deals and considers a five-year period to include rolling deals and examine exports over time. The organization’s database is considered reliable. This year’s report found that in the last five years, all defense exports around the world increased by 9.2% compared to the five years before that. European countries more than tripled their defense purchases, in the shadow of the war in Ukraine, and now the continent is the number one destination in the world for weapons and defense equipment.

Increase in US arms exports following the Russian invasion of Ukraine

The US has increased its defense exports to Europe in the last five years by 217%, compared to the five years between 2016 and 2020. The institute includes Ukraine as part of Europe and explains that a large part of the increase in exports to the continent is due to the transfer of weapons to the country that has been fighting for the last four years against Russia, which invaded the country.

The USA ranks first in the SIPRI ranking and is responsible for 42% of global arms and ammunition exports in the last five years. In the five years before that, it was responsible for only 36%. For the first time in this period, the majority of American weapons are destined for Europe, and not for the Middle East as it was before. In second place is France with a share of 9.8% of the global arms supply. In third place is Russia, whose exports are small because International sanctions. Germany moved into fourth place, followed by Italy in sixth place and, as mentioned, in seventh place. Israel recorded a 56% jump in its arms exports in the period under review (compared to the five years between 1996 and 2000), second only to the 157% jump in Italian arms exports.

The authors of the report note that Israel “conquered” this position despite the multi-arena war in which it was involved. “Although it is waging wars in Gaza and Iran, and attacks in Lebanon, Qatar, Syria and Yemen, Israel has still managed to increase its share of global arms exports,” said researcher Zain Hussein from the institute, “the Israeli arms industry focuses on air defense systems that have high international demand, while the Israeli army depends on the import of some key components.” According to the institute’s breakdown, Israel’s top three export destinations were India (29%), Germany (21%) and the USA (7.8%).

According to a separate ranking of arms importers around the world, Israel is in 14th place, with its arms imports increasing by 12% in the last five years, compared to the five years before them. The five largest arms importers in the world were (in descending order): Ukraine, India, Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Pakistan.