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.