The conflict in Ukraine is altering the world weapons trade

According to research conducted by the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, France has surpassed Russia as the country that exports the most weapons. The United States has strengthened its position as the world leader in weaponry sales.
According to a recent analysis from the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI), Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022 and the continuing conflict have dramatically increased European military purchases, with US manufacturers benefiting the most.

While the total number of guns traded globally decreased by 3.3% between 2014 and 2023 compared to the preceding five years, the number of weapons bought by European nations quadrupled during that time. The United States accounted for the lion’s share of weaponry sales to European nations, at 55%. This was a 20-percent increase over the prior time frame.
US dominance in the world The United States raised its total weapons exports by 17%, mostly to European nations. More guns were exported by American companies to 107 nations than during any other SIPRI-analyzed timeframe or exporting country.
According to Matthew George, head of the SIPRI Arms Transfers Program, the United States has expanded its position as a worldwide arms provider, which is a significant part of its foreign policy. It is now supplying more weapons to more nations than it has ever done.
This occurs at a time when rising nations are posing a threat to the USA’s supremacy in both geopolitics and the economy. It should come as no surprise that the European nation with the biggest spike in firearm imports is Ukraine. Ukraine changed from being a small importer and a location for domestic manufacture in 2019 to being the world’s fourth-largest consumer of weapons, after Saudi Arabia, India, and Qatar, in 2023.
Imports rose by 6,600% over the prior time frame. Ukraine will be ranked as the world’s top importer of weaponry in 2023. Nevertheless, many of the weapons it acquired in the conflict with Russia were provided by its friends rather than sold. The top three suppliers to Ukraine were the US, Germany, and Poland.
Russia’s exports decline The United States, France, Russia, China, and Germany were the top five countries as global exporters of armaments. Russia was surpassed by France to take second place. Russia had a 53% decline in exports.

Sales in France rose by 47%. 31 nations were currently getting weapons from Russia as of 2019.
By 2023, that number had fallen to 12, with the two largest consumers being India and China, which have continued to trade gas and oil with Russia. In other instances, the US and several European powers have also applied pressure to nations that had previously purchased Russian weapons or were considering doing so.
One of the report’s authors, Pieter Wezeman, told DW. According to Wezeman, this was evident in Egypt’s situation, where the country was about to purchase Russian combat aircraft but was persuaded not to by the United States. As a result, Egypt is now purchasing cutting-edge combat aircraft from France.
According to Wezeman, France is following a strategy of strategic sovereignty. In essence, it wants to be independent of external weaponry and have the ability to use military force whenever it pleases. They thus need an arms industry, but exporting is really necessary in order to have one. Otherwise, the cost increases significantly.
According to Wezeman, France’s armaments sector has had great success over the last ten years, with the Rafale fighter planes, submarines, and frigates being its best-selling products. Exports of German submarines From 2014 to 2023, Germany continued to be the fifth-largest weapons exporter in the world, with the Middle East serving as its primary market.
During that time, Germany’s exports of weapons decreased by 14%, yet Wezeman noted that the drop was relative. Submarine orders, in particular, made the preceding five years especially buoyant. In contrast, 2023 was a very prosperous year for the German armaments industry alone.
Naturally, Wezeman claimed it had something to do with the military assistance given to Ukraine, but it also had something to do with the fact that Singapore received submarines, and Israel and Egypt received frigates and corvettes. African nations, in comparison to their European counterparts, purchased around half as many foreign weapons between 2019 and 2023 as they had over the previous five years, mainly due to a decrease in purchases from two significant importers. Algeria brought in 77% fewer weapons imports.
Morocco had a 46% decrease in purchasing. Russia is Africa’s top weapons exporter, with the United States and China coming in second and third, respectively. Russia’s influence on the continent has grown in recent years. The original language of this article was German.