Deputy: arms market most expensive in terms of global sales

According to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI), total global military expenditure reached a record $2.224 trillion due to changes in geopolitical and military calculations, with the world’s largest nations dramatically increasing their defence budgets – as noted by Deputy Chairman of the Standing Committee on National Security of the House of Representatives of the National Assembly of Belarus Igor Martynov

“Any military operations, those ‘hot’ spots that currently exist in the world, are probably the most expensive topic, since not a single war or armed conflict can do without the supply of weapons and without losses. In this regard, several problems are being solved at once: getting rid of old types of weapons, from which defence companies have the opportunity to earn money and producing new types of weapons through which they can update the fleet of military equipment and weapons of their armies. The US and, accordingly, those European states that support Ukraine by supplying weapons there are now actively engaged in this. According to US Secretary of Defence Lloyd Austin, during the conflict in Ukraine (since February 24th, 2022), America and Western countries have spent over $80bn on arms supplies to Ukraine.

The arms market is the most expensive in terms of global sales. If we look at all this more globally, we can admit that the US and Russia account for over 50 percent of sales of military equipment and weapons. It is clear that Russia is a country that is fighting and needs constant replenishment of its own army while the USA is the main exporter of arms to most countries of the world. Not only to the countries where military operations are taking place, but also to those states where they are actively purchasing American weapons.

Today, major arms buyers are India, China, the United Arab Emirates, and Iran. Considering the size of their armed forces, these countries need to update their weapons fleet. Moreover, weapons and military equipment are purchased in significant quantities where military operations are directly taking place: in the Middle East, in Ukraine.

We also see how Europe is now getting rid of old types of weapons left over from the Soviet times. These are Poland, Romania, Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, and the Baltic States. Defence supply companies are also looking to earn huge money from this. In Western countries, these are corporations from the USA, France, Germany, and Great Britain. Clearly, any military conflict in the world provides an opportunity for one or another arms manufacturer to make big money. Traditionally, countries that have such potential occupy leading positions in the arms market.

In this regard, we can recall the words of American President Joe Biden that ‘for us, the war in Ukraine is the most profitable item of expenditure. Almost 80 percent of the US budget today comes from the production and sale of weapons’. This says a lot about the situation that has developed in the world today.

REFERENCE

Because of the war between Israel and Hamas, shares of European gunsmiths soared against the backdrop of a drop in other assets. Shares of Germany’s Rheinmetall AG rose by 7.1 percent, Italy’s Leonardo jumped by 4.8 percent, those of France’s Thales and Dassault Aviation increased by 4.7 percent and 4.4 percent, respectively, and the shares of Britain’s BAE Systems grew by 4.5 percent. The fact that fuel and weapons manufacturers have risen in price greatly suggests that the confrontation in the Middle East will last a long time, enabling the latter to ‘warm their hands on it’. In the US, shares of military-industrial complex companies jumped higher than those of European: Northrop Grumman grew by 11.4 percent, the shares of L3Harris Technologies and Lockheed Martin increased by 9.9 percent each.