#9 - RW 262
Vedomosti
June 18, 2003
RUSSIA REMAINS THE LEADER IN ARMS EXPORTS
Analysts divided on assessments of Russia's arms trade
Author: Alexei Nikolsky
[from WPS Monitoring Agency, www.wps.ru/e_index.html]

THE DRAMATIC EVENTS OF SEPTEMBER 11, 2001 AND THE SUBSEQUENT ARMED CONFLICTS, HAVE GENERATED A GLOBAL RISE IN MILITARY SPENDING. ACCORDING TO THE VALUE OF ITS ARMS DELIVERIES LAST YEAR, RUSSIA RANKS EITHER THIRD OR FOURTH, AFTER THE UNITED STATES, BRITAIN, AND PERHAPS FRANCE.

According to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI), global military spending doubled last year. Russia remained the largest arms exporter in the world in terms of the volume of deliveries of aircraft, tanks and other systems. However, in terms of revenues from arms exports, Russia's military-industrial complex barely ranks third, after the US, Britain, and perhaps France. Israel, which is increasing exports of control systems, for Russian-made weapons as well, is close on the heels of Russia.

As reported by SIPRI, the dramatic events of September 11, 2001 and the subsequent armed conflicts, have generated a global rise in military spending. Last year's increase was 6% (compared to 3% in 2001), reaching a total of $794 billion, with America's share being 43% or $336 billion. Global arms exports are also growing; they amounted to $16.5 billion last year against $16.1 billion in 2001.

SIPRI expert Siemon Weseman admits that the evaluations of the institute, which are based on the number of "combat platforms" (planes, tanks, guns and other combat systems), do not reflect financial indicators of the arms exporters. "We are not using the prices in our calculations, since obtaining comparable data is very hard due to the difference in the national count systems," Weseman explained. In his opinion, in terms of the value of arms supplied last year, Russia ranks either third or fourth, following the US, Britain, and perhaps France.

SIPRI's evaluation of Russia's arms exports over 2002 - to the amount of $5.941 billion - is due to large quantities of warplanes Russia supplied abroad, says Konstantin Makiyenko, an expert with the Strategies and Technologies Analysis Center. "Sixty Su planes and 25 MiG planes supplied by Russia make up the lion's share of the figure presented by SIPRI," Makiyenko says.

According to Marat Kenzhetayev, an expert with the Center of Arms Control, SIPRI bases its calculations on the price of each Su-30 Russian-made fighter being $50 million, equalizing it with the price of F-15 fighter produced by the US, whereas a real price of a Su fighter could be below $35 million.

As Makiyenko says, SIPRI is not accounting the price of the airborne equipment - various electronic and control systems. As a result, according to SIPRI's rating, last year Israel's sum aggregate of the arms exports was only $178 million, while the Israeli defense ministry has already announced that Israel's volume of military exports reached $3 billion last year, mainly at the expense of marketing control systems. Rapid growth of Israel's arms exports is among the most noticeable trends in the arms market, says Kenzhetayev; Israel has been actively upgrading hardware, including complexes for Russian-made combat systems included.

As for as the real value of what the world's top arms exporters supplied last year, experts agree that America still ranks first - with a large gap between it and the second-largest exporter, Britain; Makiyenko believes Russia is the third. According to Weseman, Russia may yield its position to France, the latter's final figures related to arms exports are yet unpublished, but are expected to be considerably higher than in 2001, which was a failure for the French.

(Translated by Andrei Ryabochkin)

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