The Russo-Ukrainian war, which has dragged on for two years, has profoundly changed the arms trade, strengthening the weight of the United States and marginalizing Russia, which concentrates its production on its own armies. In its latest annual report on arms exports in the world, published Monday March 11, the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (Sipri) reveals that arms imports into Europe have almost doubled (+ 94%) over the last last five years (2019-2023) compared to the previous five years, while Russian sales abroad were halved.
Sipri studies this market over periods of five years to smooth out the sometimes significant fluctuations from one year to the next, and to clearly identify trends. Over 2019-2023, the world ranking of “cannon dealers” will evolve. Since February 2022, around thirty countries – led by the United States – have supplied weapons to kyiv, which has become the fourth largest importer in the world.
For their part, many European states have acquired planes, helicopters, combat vehicles and anti-aircraft defense systems as part of a rearmament policy also intended to respect their commitment to NATO to devote at least 2% of their national wealth for defense.
“Strategic imperative”
Director of Sipri, Dan Smith recalls that Europe, far from being marginalized, is “responsible for around a third of global exports, reflecting [sa] strong military-industrial capacity ». The facts remain no less cruel and the figures stubborn. The European Union emphasized on March 5, through its High Representative for Foreign Affairs, Josep Borrell, that“a strong, resilient and competitive European defense industry is a strategic imperative”. We are far from it.
Over the last five years, 55% of imports into Europe came from the United States, compared to 35% over the period 2014-2018. They now account for 42% of global sales of defense equipment, exporting more weapons to more countries. This dynamism reinforces a military-industrial complex comprising the world’s leading companies in the sector, such as Lockheed-Martin, Raytheon Technologies, Boeing, Northrop Grumman and General Dynamics.
The choice in favor of the Americans is not surprising. After the Russian invasion of Ukraine, there was an urgent need to rearm and, despite strong tensions on its industrial assets, the United States had a greater capacity for mobilization than the Europeans, and a policy of support for Ukraine even more assertive. In addition, the majority of the countries of the Old Continent have placed themselves under the umbrella of NATO, and therefore of Washington, since 1949, even when they had a solid defense industry, like the United Kingdom, Germany or Italy, and today Sweden. Berlin could hardly buy another aircraft than the F-35 to carry the American deterrent force based on German soil.
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