The Top 5 Countries that Export the Most Arms 2011

  Country Value
(for the year 2011)
World Percentage
(from 2006 to 2010)
1 United States $9.98 billion 30%
2 Russia $7.87 billion 23%
3 France $2.43 billion 7%
4 China $1.35 billion 3%
5 Germany $1.20 billion 11%
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 Special Report
  1. The volume of international transfers of major conventional weapons for the period 2006 to 2010 was 24 per cent higher than for the period 2001 to 2005.
  2. The top five suppliers accounted for 75 per cent of all exports of major conventional weapons in 2006 to 2010, compared with 80 per cent in 2001 to 2005.
  3. The United States delivered weapons to 75 recipients in 2006– 2010, more than any other supplier. Asia and Oceania was the biggest recipient region of US weapons—accounting for 44 per cent of US deliveries, including 22 per cent in total for South Korea, Japan and Taiwan. The Middle East accounted for 28 per cent and Europe for 19 per cent. Among the USA's deliveries in 2010 were 52 combat aircraft, 2439 armoured vehicles and 108 tanks. Nearly all armoured vehicles went to US allies for use in Afghanistan and Iraq.
  4. Russia exported around 67 per cent of its arms to Asia in 2006– 2010 and 14 per cent to Africa. India was the largest recipient of Russian arms exports and in 2010 gave its strongest signal to date of continued interest in joint production with Russia of transport and advanced combat aircraft. Despite Russia’s concerns with China’s copying of its weapon technology and the potential competition on the international arms market, Russia is willing to provide China with S-400 air defence systems, Il-476 transport aircraft and Su-33 carrier-borne combat aircraft for the right price. In 2010 Russia announced that it would not supply five S-300 air defence systems to Iran. It still has outstanding orders for S-300 systems for Algeria, Libya, Kazakhstan and Venezuela. Armenia revealed in 2010 that it was in possession of at least two S-300 systems supplied by Russia.
  5. States in Asia and Oceania received 43 per cent of all imports of major conventional weapons in 2006– 2010, followed by Europe (21 per cent), the Middle East (17 per cent), the Americas (12 per cent) and Africa (7 per cent).
Top 5 facts sources:
  1. Stockholm International Peace Research Institute Yearbook. (2011). "Armaments Disarmament and International Security." Retrieved April 15th, 2012.
Tags: The United States, War and the Military, Imports & Exports, Weapons and Arms Statistics, France

Sources:  Stockholm International Peace Research Institute Arms Transfers Database 2012.

List Notes: Data is top arms exporting countries expressed in U.S. dollars for the year 2011. World percentage is from the years 2006 to 2010.List is ranked according to value.
Countries that Export the Most Arms 2011

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