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The U.S. Is Still No.1 at Selling Arms to the World

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POCHEON, SOUTH KOREA - APRIL 11: A Kiowa Warrior helicopter hover during the United States and South Korean Joint live fire Exercise at Rodriguez Range on April 11, 2014 in Pocheon, South Korea. This is a part of annual joint Combined Forces Command and U.S. Forces Korea training exercise known as Foal Eagle, participated by approximately 7,500 forces, intended to prepare the South Korean defence force for any potential action from North Korea. (Photo by Chung Sung-Jun/Getty Images)
A Kiowa Warrior helicopter hover during the United States and South Korean Joint live fire Exercise at Rodriguez Range in Pocheon, South Korea, on Apr. 11, 2014.Chung Sung-Jun—Getty Images
By Denver Nicks

The United States remains the world’s preeminent exporter of arms, with more than 50 percent of the global weaponry market controlled by the United States as of 2014.

Arms sales by the U.S. jumped 35 percent, or nearly $10 billion, to $36.2 billion in 2014, according to the Congressional Research Service report, which analyzed the global arms market between 2007 and 2014.

Trailing the U.S. in weapons receipts is Russia, with $10.2 billion in sales in 2014, followed by Sweden with $5.5 billion, France with $4.4 billion and China with $2.2 billion, reports The New York Times.

The top weapons buyer in 2014 was South Korea, a key American ally, which has been squaring off with an increasingly belligerent North Korea in recent years.

Iraq was the second biggest weapons buyer, as the country seeks to build up its military capacity following the withdrawal of the bulk of American ground troops there. Brazil was the third biggest buyer, primarily of Swedish aircraft.

[NYT]

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