It caused a strong rise in US weapons sales in the last five years, in which Europe doubled its purchases and Ukraine became the main world importer, according to a report released on Monday by it.
The study, which compares the 2015-2019 and 2020-2024 periods, also reflects that France has settled as a second world exporter ahead of Russia, whose sales collapsed, and that the total volume of world weapons trade was slightly reduced (0.6 %).
Ukrainian imports multiplied a hundred times between the two periods, which has allowed him to unseat India of first place, with 8.8 % of total purchases.
At least 35 countries sent weapons to Ukraine after the Russian invasion of 2022 and “substantial” deliveries are in preparation, highlights the SIPRI, with the US as the main supplier (45 %), followed by Germany (12 %) and by Poland (11 %).
Leadership and dependencies
In the last five years, the United States increased its sales by 21 % and increased its world market share from 35 % to 43 %.
For the first time in two decades, the main receiver of American weapons was not the Middle East (33 %), but Europe (35 %), although by Saudi Arabia maintains the first place with 12 %.
“The US is in a unique position in terms of weapons exports. With 43 %, its global market share is four times higher than the next exporter, France,” says the report.
European imports in that period rose 155 % (105 % in the case of NATO member countries), of which 64 % were supplied by the United States, 12 percentage points more than in the previous five years.
The other arms suppliers to Europe were France and South Korea (both with 6.5 %), Germany (4.7 %) and Israel (3.9 %).
The report highlights that the European countries of the “have taken steps to reduce their dependence on weapons imports and to reinforce the European arms industry.”
Although far from the US, France consolidated its status as a world exporter, with 9.6 %, one more point, and tripled its sales to other European countries, due to the delivery of combat fighters to Greece and Croatia and sending weapons to Ukraine.
Descent in the sales of Russia and China
with total 7.8 %, experienced a 64 % sales drop, a trend that had already begun in 2020 and that obeys several factors such as their own needs on the battlefield, commercial sanctions and the “pressures” of the US and their allies to other states so that they do not buy weapons, the study highlights.
India, with 38 %, remains the main recipient of Russian weapons exports, although it continues to reduce its Moscow dependence, followed by China (17 %) and Kazakhstan (11 %).
China was the fourth world seller with a total 5.9 %, 5 % less, despite the “efforts” to increase their sales.
It highlights the increase experienced by Italy, which rises from tenth to the sixth place, just behind Germany, thanks to an increase of 138 % and that monopolized almost 5 % total.
Asia-Oceania continues to be the main importing region of weapons, although its quota fell from 41 to 33 %, mainly due to the decrease in Chinese purchases.
Weapons imports in the Middle East fell 20 % in the last five years, although four of the first world buying countries are from that region (Catar, Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Kuwait).
In the American continent, the purchase of armaments rose 13 %, with the United States monopolizing half of imports and Brazil increasing their own, which represent 49 %of the total in South America, 77 %.
The main arms suppliers to South America were France (30 %), the United States (12 %) and the United Kingdom (11 %).
The Spanish case
Spain, on the other hand, increased its armament sales by 29 % in the last five years compared to the 2015-2019 period, according to the SIPRI report. Spanish sales accounted for 3 % of the world total (2.3 % in the previous five years).
Our country retreated, however, a position and went down to the ninth place among world exporters in 2020-2024, due to the remarkable increase experienced by Italy, which increased its sales by 138 %. Saudi Arabia (24 %), Australia (18 %) and Türkiye (13 %) were the main importers of Spanish weapons in that period.
