Mirror mirror on the wall, who's the biggest arms dealer of them all? It's not even close. Beating out Russia and France, the United States once again is ranked first for worldwide arms sales, and it's fast expanding its lead, according to a new report by the Congressional Research Service.
Though the United States has come out on top for a number of years, it's share of the global arms market has expanded precipitously. "In 2008, the United States ranked first in arms transfer agreements with developing nations with $29.6 billion or 70.1% of these agreements, an extraordinary market share for a single year," reads this year's report.
The total value of the United States' arms sales agreements for 2008 was $37.8 billion, accounting for some 68 percent of the world market. The United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia were the top two buyers of arms in 2008.
Tracking arms sales is a tricky business. The Defense Security Cooperation Agency, the Pentagon agency in charge of foreign military sales, compiles statistics but those only cover government-to-government agreements. As the report notes, it doesn't include data on commercial agreements licensed through the State Department, because there is no equivalent reporting system.
The Congressional Research Service report on conventional arms transfers to developing nations is prepared annually. "Regarded as the most detailed collection of unclassified global arms sales data available to the general public, it was delivered to the House and Senate on Friday, ready for members’ return from the Labor Day recess," reports the New York Times, which is traditionally the first media outlet to obtain the report. A copy of this year's report, which covers 2001-2008, is available on the Federation of American Scientist's website.
[Image: U.S. Air Force]
