The Current Characteristics of International Conventional Arms Trade: Expanding Trade and Concentrating Production

Abstract

An important aspect of understanding processes in international security is to recognize the trends and characteristics of international arms trade. While the 2008 economic crisis had its effects felt for years, therefore defense spending has mostly stagnated between 2012–2016, international arms trade had continuously been expanding since 2003 and has increased in value by 10% between 2013–2017 compared to the previous five-year period. This analysis provides an overview of the trends and characteristics of the international trade of major offensive weapons relying on the Arms Transfers Database of Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI), which also shed light to international political–military alliances as well as the demand and supply relations of modern weapons. In addition, the leading international arms producing companies and their trade indicators will also be introduced, based on the December 2018 report by SIPRI. Through this we will get a picture of the degree of concentration for international trade of the most modern and valuable arms, weapons systems and related services. We also get to see what role the major arms producing companies of non-Western countries can play among the Top 100 leading companies internationally.