UK is ‘second-biggest’ arms dealer in the world
The UK has maintained its dominant position in the global arms trade in the past decade, coming second only to the United States.
The latest data released by UK Defense and Security Exports shows that with 16 percent of global market share, the UK was the second biggest arms exporter in 2019.
The United States dominates the arms trade overall with 47 percent of the global market share. Russia is third with 11 percent, with France trailing closely behind at 10 percent.
In 2019 the UK exported arms and weapons systems worth £11 billion, slightly less than the £14 billion it exported in 2018. The reasons for the drop are not known.
West Asia, Europe and North America constitute the UK’s biggest arms export markets.
Some of the more notable defense orders between 2010 and 2019 included the sale of Typhoon fighter aircraft t Kuwait, Qatar, Oman and Saudi Arabia to the tune of a staggering £100 billion.
In addition, Hawk aircraft were sold to India, aircraft engines to France, and significant work was completed on projects for the US market.
Furthermore, the UK exported nearly £4 billion of cyber security expertise in 2019, with services sold mostly to Europe, North America and Asia.
The UK openly celebrates its status as the second biggest arms exporter and has time and again demonstrated its desire to expand its market share.
In July the British government announced it was resuming controversial arms sales to Saudi Arabia after they were briefly suspended in June 2019 following a Court of Appeal ruling.
In its landmark ruling last year, the Court of Appeal asserted the government had acted unlawfully when it licensed the sale of UK-produced arms and weapons systems to Saudi-led forces in Yemen without undertaking a risk assessment as to whether past incidents amounted to breaches of international humanitarian law.
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