13. Arms production and arms trade

Summary

Global arms industry output continued to fall in 1993. Within the downward
trend in military expenditure, arms procurement budgets were perhaps more
severely affected than other forms of military expenditure. Reductions in
production for domestic arms procurement have been most marked in Russia and
other countries in Central and Eastern Europe.

The international flow of major conventional weapons levelled off—at about $22
billion in 1993 (in 1990 US$)—after a period of fast decline since 1987. The
USA remained the dominant supplier, accounting for 48% of total deliveries.
Russia increased its share by about one-third to 21% in 1993. Among the
recipients, the share of countries in the Middle East has increased since 1991
as equipment programmes agreed in the wake of the Persian Gulf War have been
implemented.

The combined arms sales by the top 100 arms-producing companies of the OECD and
developing countries fell to $168 billion in 1992 (down by $8 billion from
1991). Within the reduced total, US companies accounted for a smaller share in
1992 than in 1991, while the share of other OECD countries (Western Europe,
Canada and Japan) increased. The share in the top 100 total of the six
companies in the developing world remained constant.

Apart from China (not included in the SIPRI arms industry data base), Israel,
India and South Africa are the only developing countries (outside Central and
Eastern Europe) in the SIPRI 100 list.

In 1993 government reports to the UN Register on Conventional Arms for calendar
year 1992, in seven categories of weapon, were reported to the United Nations.
Of the UN member states and observer states invited, 83 responded to the
Secretary-General's request. However, key groups of arms importers did not
report—particularly governments in the Middle East and Asia although some
significant importers, notably Egypt and Israel, did report.

Some publicly known arms transfers were not reported by countries
participating in the UN Register. A `grey area' of systems has been created by
broad definitions for attack helicopters and combat aircraft used in the
Register, which meant that a number of countries chose not to report certain
transfers. Some transfers of major conventional weapons which clearly meet the
parameters of the Register and which were widely discussed in public sources in
1992 were not reported to the UN. In most cases, suppliers and recipients did
not co-ordinate their returns to the Register.

In the new security environment arms embargoes have emerged as a diplomatic
`weapon of choice'. Since 1990 the Security Council has imposed mandatory arms
embargoes on six UN member states—Iraq, the former Yugoslavia, Somalia, Libya,
Liberia and Haiti—as well as one non-state
grouping (the National Union for the Total Independence of Angola, UNITA).
During the cold war, civil wars and military coups similar to those in Liberia
and Haiti did not trigger mandatory UN sanctions. Threats to international
peace and security—such as the Iraqi invasion of Iran in 1980—failed to
elicit a mandatory arms embargo.

Appendix 13A. The 100 largest arms-producing companies, 1992

IAN ANTHONY, PAUL CLAESSON, GERD HAGMEYER-GAVERUS, ELISABETH SKÖNS AND SIEMON T. WEZEMAN

Appendix 13B. Tables of the volume of the trade in major conventional weapons, 1984-94

IAN ANTHONY, PAUL CLAESSON, GERD HAGMEYER-GAVERUS, ELISABETH SKÖNS AND SIEMON T. WEZEMAN

Appendix 13C. Register of the trade in and licensed production of major conventional weapons in industrialized and developing countries, 1993

IAN ANTHONY, PAUL CLAESSON, GERD HAGMEYER-GAVERUS, ELISABETH SKÖNS AND SIEMON T. WEZEMAN

Appendix 13D. Sources and methods

Appendix 13E. Arms acquisitions in East Asia 

BATES GILL

Appendix 13D is a study of arms
production and trade in East Asia.