The United States maintains its position as world's number one arms exporter, followed by France, according to a report released by the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute on Monday. It also showed that Ukraine became the world's largest importer in the period 2020-2024.
French truck-mounted Ceasar howitzer at the Eurosatory 2024 show, 16 June 2024.
© RFI/Jan van der Made
By: Jan van der Made
Issued on: 10/03/2025 -
The findings by the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (Sipri) coincide with an announcement by European Union states that they intend to strengthen the continent's defence capabilities.
This comes after US President Donald Trump said Europe should become less dependent on the US.
The report published on Monday found that the United States strengthened its position as the world's top weapons exporter with some 43 percent of global exports and France confirmed a distant second place with 9.6 percent.
"France has now cemented its place as the second largest exporter vis-a-vis Russia, which was at that position some time ago," Mathew George, director of Sipri's Arms Transfer Programme told RFI.
France is also "making those inroads into different areas with exports to Asia and the Middle East," he says. "So it's really growing."
Arms embargoes
According to Sipri's report which covers 2020 - 2024, Ukraine became the world's largest arms importer with a growth of "9.627 percent more than the previous period", which is "mind-boggling," George says.
Russia accounted for only 0.5 percent of global arms imports between 2020 and 2024, but mainly "because Russia has mostly relied on domestic arms production to meet its demand," George explains.
In that period, Russia did import missiles with a range of 100 kilometres or more and one-way attack drones from Iran and artillery and missiles with a range of 450 kilometres from North Korea.
But figures are hard to come by due to arms embargoes on the three countries, George explains.
"We make conservative estimates. Unfortunately we don't have that much transparency in those transfers."
RFI
A man reads informations of an Iranian domestically-built drone as he visits National Aerospace Park of the Revolutionary Guard, just outside Tehran, Iran, Friday, Nov. 15, 2024. AP - Vahid Salemi
Warring states' exports down
Exports coming from Russia and Ukraine went substantially down over the 2020-2024 period, Sipri's report shows.
Ukraine became the 20th largest exporter down from the 12th, with a a reduction of 72 percent less exports, while Russian exports declined by 64 percent.
George points out that this decline already started before the 2022 invasion, "most likely related to Russia's decision to prioritise the production of its major arms for its own armed forces over those for export".
This was aggravated by further effects caused by multilateral trade sanctions imposed on Russia and increased pressure from the US and its allies on other states not to buy Russian arms.
Russian arms exports remained at around the same levels of 2023, which was some 47 percent lower than 2022.
Missile systems manufactured by French company MBDA on display at the Eurosatory 2024 defence & security exhibition, 16 June 2024. © RFI/Jan van der Made
Arms imports by European NATO members more than doubled their arms imports in comparison to the period 2015-2020, which preceded the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
According to Sipri's database, 64 percent of Europe's arms imports come from the US, followed by France, South Korea, Germany and Israel.
Last week, EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen announced that the union's spending on weapon procurement will be increased to €800 billion.
Windfall for European arms makers as Brussels ramps up defence spending
George isn't sure how this will impact current weapon transfers in the long term.
"We'll have to see what and where that is translated into. There has to be a lot of mobilisation in what the industry will need to do to support the requirements of Europe."
"We'll have to wait and see where that 800 billion gets invested into, whether that means that countries will again focus on their own industry to buy more European.
"Some of these decisions are not so much about what's available for us, but also to improve relationships and long-term relationships for a shared strategic objective." George says.
Arms imports by European NATO members more than doubled their arms imports in comparison to the period 2015-2020, which preceded the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
According to Sipri's database, 64 percent of Europe's arms imports come from the US, followed by France, South Korea, Germany and Israel.
Last week, EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen announced that the union's spending on weapon procurement will be increased to €800 billion.
Windfall for European arms makers as Brussels ramps up defence spending
George isn't sure how this will impact current weapon transfers in the long term.
"We'll have to see what and where that is translated into. There has to be a lot of mobilisation in what the industry will need to do to support the requirements of Europe."
"We'll have to wait and see where that 800 billion gets invested into, whether that means that countries will again focus on their own industry to buy more European.
"Some of these decisions are not so much about what's available for us, but also to improve relationships and long-term relationships for a shared strategic objective." George says.
Ukraine has become the largest importer of arms. Percentage wise it is 9,627 percent. That's mindboggling.REMARK Mathew George SIPRIJan van der Made
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