Quote :

"US 'biggest global arms dealer' The US has reaffirmed its domination of global weapons trading, cornering nearly 42 per cent of the arms market, according to a US congressional report. The US concluded $16.9bn worth of arms deals last year, a $3.4bn increase over 2005, the Conventional Arms Transfers to Developing Nations report said. Wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, along with the traditional rivalry between India and Pakistan, seemed to be fuelling regional arms races, the report, officially published on Monday, said. Pakistan, a key US ally, was the developing nation which purchased the most arms with $5.1bn worth of deals. Along with a variety of other weapons, the US will supply Pakistan with 36 upgraded versions of the F-16 fighter aircraft for $1.4 bn, a variety of missiles and bombs for them for over $640m, and $52m worth of upgrades for self-propelled howitzers. In Saudi Arabia, it will be modernising the kingdom's AH-64A Apache helicopters, a deal worth $340m, and providing new military communications equipment, the report said. Meanwhile, the United Arab Emirates is buying Seasparrow ship-to-air missiles from Washington for $106m. Iran's nuclear ambitions appear to have led to Washington's regional allies stocking up on weapons in recent years. Economic interests Richard Grimmett, the senior national defence expert at the Congressional Report Service and main author of the study, noted a major shift in political and economic interests driving post-Cold War era international weapons sales. During the Cold War, he argued, the underlying rationale for US arms sales was to ensure adequate arms supplies to friendly states. "Today that motivation may be based as much on economic considerations as those of foreign or national security policy," Grimmett said. But some of the old international tensions do seem to remain, Russia boosted its worldwide arms sales by $1.2bn, ending 2006 in second place with 21.6 per cent of the market. It signed a deal worth more than $1bn to supply Venezuela, a major rival to the US in Latin America, with two dozen fighter jets, as well as transport and attack helicopters. Moscow has also offered to help build a factory to produce the infamous Russian-designed AK-47 assault rifle favoured by armed groups around the world. "His [Chavez's] decision to seek advanced military equipment from Russia is a matter of US concern," Grimmett said. "Chavez appears embarked on an effort to make Venezuela an important military force in Latin America." Market shrinks But despite the fears of a new global arms race, the size of the market actually shrunk from $46.3bn in 2005 to $40.3bn last year. Western European nations were among those hit hardest by the slump. The four major regional suppliers - France, Britain, Germany and Italy - saw the collective value of their arms agreements with developing nations drop by half. "The demand for US weapons in the global arms marketplace, from a large established client base, has created a more difficult environment for individual West European suppliers to secure large new contracts with developing nations on a sustained basis," Grimmett said. However, the report does not take into account for the huge number of illegal weapons transfers, worth an estimated $10bn. The report was released just days after 139 countries at the UN voted to develop a global Arms Trade Treaty. The US was the only country to vote against the treaty that would seek to prevent international arms transfers that fuel conflict, poverty and serious human-rights violations. --http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/00FF9F94-413C-4844-B606-6FF4250FE73E.htm "

military weapons, hollywood movies and Halo 3.

USA #1

10/5/2007 8:32:35 PM

We're also pretty big into aerospace still, thank you very much. A few years ago I had an econ prof tell me it was #2 behind "entertainment" in terms of our exports, but he could be wrong and that could be outdated.

I don't see that there's a particular reason to mention this. Somebody's going to make money selling guns to our allies, might as well be us.

10/5/2007 8:47:17 PM

i'd like to know how much of that Aerospace number he used is military hardware.

Boeing (for instance) is doing great business against Airbus, but they still are predominantly a DoD contractor.




[Edited on October 5, 2007 at 8:56 PM. Reason : ]

10/5/2007 8:56:03 PM

Quote :

"hollywood movies"

USA #2

10/5/2007 9:32:50 PM

^^ Thats cause Airbus tried to make the A380 as an "international" aircraft and have consistently screwed the pooch on delivery times.

10/5/2007 9:41:32 PM

Quote :

"Iran's nuclear ambitions appear to have led to Washington's regional allies stocking up on weapons in recent years."

Wouldn't it be great if Iran did all of this nuclear posturing in order to get the US to sell a bunch of arms and equipment to surrounding nations so that the region could then turn around and attack Israel? It'd certainly be the best conspiracy ever, and an easy one to pull off, too. And it would serve us right, too.

10/5/2007 11:08:15 PM

^^ lots of people think they grossly overestimated the market for the A380, too.

Boeing had plans for a "bigger, better, faster, more" jet, but they ultimately scrapped them after lots of market research that suggested the airlines would largley prefer a little moderation, but great efficiency.

10/6/2007 12:07:26 AM