Russia, US dominate global arms export market
Mar 18, 2010 12:26 Moscow Time
--thevoiceofrussia--

The world's arms trade has grown by more than 20% over the past 5 years. Russia ranks second after the US in terms of arms exports, according to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute. The US and Russia dominate the international arms export market from 2005 to 2009. The US accounts for 30% of the total arms exports, and it followed by Russia with 23%, Germany and France with 11% and 8% respectively. India and China remain the biggest arms buyers.

Experts say buyers opt for the most up-to-date and expensive models of military equipment. In view of this, combat planes make up for more than 40% of global arms sales. During his recent visit to New Delhi, Prime Minister of Russia Vladimir Putin and his Indian counterpart signed one of the biggest deals, under which India will purchase Russia's 29 MIG jet fighters. Dmitry Vasilyev, chief editor of "Russia's Arms Trade with Foreign Countries" magazine thinks the place of Russia and the US in global arms exports rating is determined by the method of calculation:

"We should treat the figures published by the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) with a bit of irony, I suppose. They say light jets produced by the US, France, Great Britain or Russia are priced equally. In fact, it is not true. In the US salaries are higher, and spare parts for the jets cost much more than in Russia. Actually, the low cost of the Russian arms is one of the advantages. But the way the SIPRI are doing their research may cause some confusion".

The rating released by the SIPRI can also be argued for some other reasons. First of all, it does not take into consideration the international cooperation in arms production. Experts in the SIPRI neither pay attention to the countries producing high-tech equipment for planes, helicopters or ships. Thus, such a well-known arms exporter like Israel is not included in the rating, though Tel Aviv earns some $5 billion per year from selling its electronic equipment and unmanned flying vehicles.

The state-run arms trader, Rosoboronexport, says currently Russia supplies arms to more than 70 countries, aircrafts making half of the exports. Russia's arms are in great demand in India, Algeria, China, Venezuela, Malaysia and Syria. Russia's stock of orders for the next few years exceeds $30 billion, making it one of the leading players on the global arms market.