The
arms industry is a global
industry and
business which
manufactures and sells
weapons and
military technology and equipment. Arms producing companies, also referred to as
defence companies or military industry, produce arms mainly for the
armed forces of
states. Products include
guns,
ammunition,
missiles,
military aircraft,
military vehicles,
ships,
electronic systems, and more. The arms industry also conducts significant
research and development.
It is estimated that yearly, over 1 trillion dollars are spent on military expenditures worldwide (2% of World
GDP). Part of this goes to the procurement of military hardware and services from the military industry. The combined arms sales of the top 100 largest arms producing companies amounted to an estimated $315 billion in 2006. In 2004 over $30 billion were spent in the international arms trade (a figure that excludes domestic sales of arms). The arms trade has also been one of the sectors impacted by the
credit crunch, with total deal value in the market halving from US$32.9bn to US$14.3bn in 2008. Many
industrialized countries have a domestic arms industry to supply their own military forces. Some countries also have a substantial legal or illegal domestic trade in weapons for use by its citizens. The illegal trade in
small arms is prevalent in many countries and regions affected by political instability.
Contracts to supply a given country's military are awarded by the government, making arms contracts of substantial political importance. The link between politics and the arms trade can result in the development of what US President
Dwight D. Eisenhower described as a
military-industrial complex, where the armed forces, commerce, and politics become closely linked. Various corporations, some publicly held, others private, bid for these contracts, which are often worth many billions of dollars. Sometimes, such as the contract for the new Joint Strike Fighter, a competitive tendering process takes place, where the decision is made on the merits of the design submitted by the companies involved. Other times, no bidding or competition takes place.
In the
Cold War Era, arms exports were used by both the
Soviet Union and the
United States to influence their standings in other countries, particularly
Third World Countries. Since the fall of the Soviet Union, global arms exports initially fell slightly, but have since 2003 grown again, and now come close to Cold War levels. The United States is the overall top supplier of weapons. The United States is also the top supplier of weapons to the developing world, accounting for around 36% of worldwide weapons sales, followed by
Russia,
United Kingdom,
Germany and
China.
The
Control Arms Campaign, founded by
Amnesty International,
Oxfam, and the
International Action Network on Small Arms, estimated in 2003 that there are over 639 million small arms in circulation, and that over 1,135 companies based in more than 98 different countries manufacture small arms as well as their various components and ammunition.
Sectors
The
AK series of weapons have been produced in greater numbers than any other
firearm and have been used in conflicts all over the world.
Land-based weapons
This category includes everything from
light arms to
heavy artillery, and the majority of producers are small. Many are located in
Third World countries. International trade in
handguns,
machine guns,
tanks,
armored personnel carriers and other relatively inexpensive weapons is substantial. There is relatively little regulation at the international level, and as a result, many weapons fall into the hands of rebel forces, terrorists, or regimes under sanctions.
Aerospace systems
Encompassing military aircraft (both land-based and
naval aviation), conventional missiles, and
military satellites, this is the most technologically advanced sector of the market. It is also the least competitive from an economic standpoint, with a handful of companies dominating the entire market. The top clients and major producers are virtually all located in the
western world, with the United States easily in first place. Prominent aerospace firms include
Dassault Aviation,
EADS,
Finmeccanica,
Thales Group,
Lockheed Martin,
Boeing, and Britain's
BAE Systems. There are also several
multinational consortia mostly involved in the manufacturing of
fighter jets, such as the
Eurofighter. The largest military contract in history, signed in October 2001, involved the development of the
Joint Strike Fighter.
Naval systems
All of the world's
major powers maintain substantial maritime forces to provide a global presence, with the largest nations possessing
aircraft carriers,
nuclear submarines and advanced
anti-air defense systems. The vast majority of military ships are conventionally powered, but some are nuclear-powered. There is also a large global market in second-hand naval vessels, generally purchased by
developing countries from
Western governments.
World's largest defence budgets
This is a list of the ten countries with the highest defence budgets for the year 2008. The information is from the
Stockholm International Peace Research Institute . Total world spending amounted to $1.464 trillion USD in 2008.
SIPRI estimate
World's largest arms exporters
The unit in this table are so-called trend indicater values expressed in millions of
US dollars. These values do not represent real financial flows but are a crude instrument to estimate volumes of arms transfers, regardless of the contracted prices, which can be as low as zero in the case of military aid. Ordered by descending 2007 values.
The information is also from the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute or from the national defence commissions where available and is updated at least once a year.
Next to SIPRI there are several other sources that provide data on international transfers of arms. These include national reports by national governments about arms exports, the UN register on conventional arms and an annual publication by the
US Congressional Research Service that includes data on arms exports to developing countries as compiled by
US intelligence agencies. A list of such sources can be found at the SIPRI website. Due to the different methodologies and definitions used different sources often provide significantly different data. For example, according to (Norway state statistics), Norway exports a greater value (in USD) of arms than many of the nations listed above.
Some of the differences are possibly due to deliberate over- or under-reporting by some of the sources. Governments may claim high arms exports as part of their role in
marketing efforts of their national arms industry or they may claim low arms exports in order to be perceived as a responsible international actor.
List of major weapon manufacturers
World's largest arms exporters
Control and international treaty
The
European Council stated to the
United Nations General Assembly:
We are committed to upholding, implementing and further strengthening the multilateral disarmament and non-proliferation framework in the fight against threats which are tending to escape the control of national sovereignty, the challenges deriving from destabilising accumulation and spread of small arms and light weapons, from illicit or irresponsible arms trade, and from the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, which are creating new and growing hot-spots of international tension. In this regard, the EU welcomes the growing support in all parts of the world for an International Arms Trade Treaty and is firmly committed to this process.
Institutes participating in weapon research and warfare simulation
Ethical dimension
For many people, arms exports pose an ethical challenge, as they see supplying the weapons for a conflict as morally akin to becoming involved with negligible personnel, national or corporate risk. Some view the arms industry as a means of profiting from
war and death when failure to supply arms could lead to an early disengagement.
On the other hand, exporting arms to groups (or nations) with "laudable" goals—e.g. a rebel group overthrowing a fascist regime—can be an invaluable equalizer in the conflict. And there is no shortage of parties to a conflict that can wreak incalculable destruction without the assistance of modern armaments—for instance, the
Hutus of the
Rwandan Genocide conducted most of their carnage using simple
machetes and other low-tech implements.
Of course—and this is endemic of nearly every debate over arms trade—the terminology used and the people it refers to can be frustratingly fluid. As years pass, governments decide on new "interests" and circumstances change accordingly. "Freedom fighters" become "insurgents". "Terrorists" become "invaluable allies", and "religious zealots" morph into "agents of stability". Entire nations, to use the parlance of the early 21st century, can go from the "Coalition of the Willing" to the "Axis of Evil" in very little time, and every change affects policy and the distribution of arms in the world.
Arms dealing in pop culture
Numerous movies, TV shows, comics, video games, etc. have featured arms dealing. In the Marvel and DC universe, many companies (such as Stark International and Wayne Enterprises/Luthor Corp respectively) have an arms manufacturing division.
The character Destro in the GI Joe comics/toon/toyline has his own private army, The Iron Grenadiers and runs MARS (Military Armament Research Syndicate). MARS is the primary supplier to the Cobra Organization and has sold weapons/vehicles to the US government. The GI Joe team has their weapons/vehicles supplied by the US government, and thus their weapons/vehicles are unknowningly made by MARS. In the comics, the scientist Dr. Mindbender his Battle Android Trooper was made from MARS parts.
See also
