THE ARMAMENTS MARKET IS RAMPANT IN EUROPE - WHO ARE THE MAJOR SUPPLIERS - Filenews 10/3
The evidence speaks for itself. The Europeans did not have to wait for the conflict in the Persian Gulf to sharply increase the supply of weapons.
According to data from the International SIPRI Institute, in the period 2021-2025, states in Europe more than tripled their arms imports, making Europe a recipient region. As for Europe's largest supplier, it is none other than the USA, which increased arms exports to the old continent by 217%.
Europe the largest arms import
region European states received 33% of global arms imports, with the region's imports increasing by 210% between 2016–20 and 2021–25. After Ukraine, Poland and the United Kingdom were the largest importers in Europe in the last five years. Almost half of the weapons transferred to European states came from the US (48%), followed by Germany (7.1%) and France (6.2%).
Perceptions of threats about Russia, combined with uncertainties about the U.S. commitment to defending its European allies, have boosted the demand for weapons among European member states of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO). The combined arms imports of NATO's 29 current European members increased by 143% between 2016-20 and 2021-25. The U.S. supplied 58% of these imports in 2021-25. The next largest suppliers were South Korea (8.6%), Israel (7.7%) and France (7.4%).
As SIPRI notes, although European companies have increased arms production and the European Union's new investment support to member states' arms industries has led to some intra-EU orders, European states continued to import American weapons in 2021-25, in particular fighter jets and long-range air defense systems. At the same time, the largest European suppliers continued to send most of their arms exports out of Europe.
The major suppliers
The United States supplied 42% of all international arms transfers in 2021-25, up from 36% in 2016-20. The U.S. exported weapons to 99 nations in 2021-25, including 35 in Europe, 18 in the Americas, 17 in Africa, 17 in Asia and Oceania, and 12 in the Middle East. For the first time in two decades, however, the largest share of U.S. arms exports went to Europe (38%) rather than the Middle East (33%). Nevertheless, the top recipient of U.S. arms was Saudi Arabia (12% of U.S. arms exports).
France was the second-largest supplier of large arms in 2021-25, accounting for 9.8% of global exports. Its arms exports increased by 21% between 2016-20 and 2021-25. France exported to 63 countries, with the largest shares going to India (24%), Egypt (11%) and Greece (10%). France's arms exports within Europe increased more than fivefold (+452%), but almost 80% still went outside the region.
Russia was the only top supplier to see its arms exports fall (-64%). Its share of global arms exports fell from 21% in 2016-20 to 6.8% in 2021-25. Russia supplied significant weapons to 30 states and 1 non-state actor in 2021-25. Almost three-quarters (74%) of Russian arms exports went to three states in 2021-25: India (48%), China (13%) and Belarus (13%).
Germany overtook China to become the fourth-largest arms exporter in 2021-2025, with 5.7% of global arms exports. Almost a quarter of all German arms exports (24%) went to Ukraine as aid (and another 17% went to other European states).
Italy's arms exports increased by 157%, pushing it from the tenth-largest exporter in 2016-20 to the sixth-largest in 2021-25. More than half of Italy's exports went to the Middle East (59%), while 16% went to Asia and Oceania and 13% to Europe.
Israel, the seventh-largest arms supplier, increased its share of global arms exports from 3.1% in 2016-20 to 4.4% in 2021-25 and for the first time surpassed the UK (3.4%).
