Arms industry

Workers Agnes Apostle, from Dauphin, Manitoba, and Joyce Horne, from Toronto, Ontario, carry out the assembly of a 9-millimeter semi-automatic pistol at the John Inglis Co ammunition plant. Toronto, Canada, April 1944.

The arms industry (also, arms industry) is a global business that encompasses the manufacture of weapons, technology and military equipment. Includes the commercial industry engaged in the research, development, production, and service of military equipment, equipment, and facilities. Arms-producing companies, also known as defense contractors or military industry contractors, produce weapons primarily for the armed forces of states. Government departments also operate in the arms industry, buying and selling weapons, ammunition, and other military items. Products include firearms, ammunition, missiles, military aircraft, military vehicles, ships, electronic systems, among others. The arms industry also carries out research and development projects.

It is estimated that more than $1.5 trillion in military spending occurs worldwide each year (2.7% of global GDP), which is a decline from 1990, when military spending made a 4% of world GDP. Part goes to the acquisition of military equipment and services from the military industry. Total arms sales of the world's 100 largest arms-producing companies amounted to an estimated $315 billion in 2006. In 2004, more than $30 billion was spent on the international arms trade (a figure that excludes domestic arms sales). The arms trade has also been one of the sectors affected by the credit crunch, with total market transaction value halving US$32.9bn to US$14.3bn in 2008. Many industrialized countries have a domestic arms industry to supply their own military forces. Some countries also have a substantial domestic legal or illegal trade in arms for use by citizens. The illegal trade in small arms is prevalent in many countries and regions affected by political instability.

For the period 2012-2017, the export of conventional weapons has increased by 8.4%, according to the Stockholm International Institute for Peace Studies (SIPRI). Most of this market still belongs to the US and Russia. Washington and Moscow sell more than half of the world's weapons. The total orders from both countries correspond to 33% and 23%, respectively. The country that completes this trio is China, whose arms exports in 2012 increased from 3.8% to 6.2%. The two countries that follow it are France with 6% and Germany with 5.6%. According to SIPRI data, the US supplies arms to more than 100 countries in the world, while Russia supplies 50.

For the period 2017-2021, arms exports from the United States grew by 14%, increasing its world share from 32% to 39%. Russia accounted for 19% of all exports and France 11%, making it third on the list. They are followed by China and Germany in fourth and fifth place. Spain was the ninth largest arms exporter.

Exports to the Middle East

The largest buyers of US weapons are in the Middle East: Saudi Arabia, Israel, the United Arab Emirates and Turkey. Washington's main export materials for this region are:

• AH-64E Apache, H-60M Blackhawk and CH-47F Chinook amphibian helicopters;
• F-35, F-18, F-15S and different versions of F-16;
• M1A1 tanks;
• TOW 2A missiles, etc.

At the same time, Russia's largest customers come from the Asia Pacific market. Up to 70% of the volume of arms exports goes to India, China, Vietnam and Algeria. The main export materials from Russia are:

• Su-30, Mig-29 and Su-35 multipurpose;
• Yak-130 training and combat aircraft;
• Ka-52 and Mi-28 combat helicopters, and Mi-17 transportation;
• Tanks Т-90 in different versions;
• Anti-aircraft, artillery and coastal systems;
• Submarines of project 636;
• Ammunition and light weapons.

What differentiates Chinese exports is their “regionality”. The vast majority of shipments are to Pakistan, Bangladesh and Burma. Likewise, other good clients of the Chinese material are the countries of North Africa, specifically Algeria. The main export objects of China are:

• Corbeta LPC-1 and frigate C-28A;
• MBT-2000 tanks;
• JF-17 Thunder/FC-1;
• Anti-aircraft and artillery systems.

According to SIPRI analysts, France's share of arms in the world market could grow thanks to the contracts of the last five years. Paris' main clients are Egypt, the United Arab Emirates and India.

• Cazas Mirage and Rafale together with weapons;
• Mistral carriers;
• Satellite Helios-2.

Analysts from this agency have pointed to a growth in German exports in 2016. However, the export volume from Berlin in recent years has decreased by almost a third compared to the period 2007-2011. Germany's largest customers in the arms market are Algeria, South Korea and Qatar, to which it mainly supplies:

• Tpz-1 Fuchs armoured vehicles;
• Leopard-2A6 tanks;
• Diesel engines;
• Self-propelled artillery facilities.

The small arms business

Since the end of the Second World War, some 30 million people have perished in the different armed conflicts that have occurred on the planet, 26 million of them as a result of the impact of small arms. These weapons, and not large ships or sophisticated combat aircraft, are materially responsible for four out of five victims, 90% of whom have also been civilians (women and children in particular).

Despite representing an insignificant part of the total volume of the world arms trade, their low cost makes them available to a large number of people to be used in civil wars and ethnic conflicts, or for illegal and criminal purposes, increasing the insecurity of the cities and rearming all kinds of gangs, paramilitary groups, mafias, clans and guerrillas. Every year more than half a million people die as a result of armed violence: one person every minute.^{[citation needed]}

Following the definition established by the United Nations, light weapons are normally understood as all kinds of conventional weapons that can be transported by a person or by a light vehicle, and can be divided into "small arms" designed for personal use (revolvers and pistols, rifles and carbines, light machine guns, assault rifles, and small-caliber machine guns), and "light weapons" designed for use by several people (heavy machine guns, grenade launchers, portable anti-aircraft guns, anti-tank guns, portable launchers, anti-tank missiles).

Data

It is estimated that there is an arsenal of 639,000,000 firearms in the world, half of which are in the hands of civilians and the rest at the disposal of the police and security forces, which means one weapon for every ten people. Since its invention in 1947, some 70,000,000 AK-47 units have been produced, the light weapon par excellence, used in 78 countries and manufactured in 14. In some countries, such as the United States, more than seven are released each year. millions of weapons, a million of which are imported, and there may be more weapons than people.

In the past, much of this arsenal was supplied by the two great military powers, the United States and the USSR, either for purely commercial interests or as part of their strategy to rearm their allies. Today, however, the number of countries that supply this type of material has increased, thereby increasing not only the material made available to buyers, but also the difficulty of controlling this traffic. UNIDIR has identified at least 300 companies from 52 countries manufacturing small arms in 1994. Of these, 22 were countries of the South that produced under license, and 16 of them also exported. Approximately 75% were made in the US and the European Union. Other important producers are Brazil, China, Canada, Japan and the Russian Federation.

Although the exact value of the production and trade of small arms and light weapons is not known, a considerable increase in their value has been detected since the end of the Cold War, and some analysts estimate that their export may have a higher value to 6,000 million dollars a year, that is, one eighth of the total value of the arms trade. The United States is the main producer of ammunition, although Russia and Eastern European countries have been very active in recent years. The European industry produces double or triple its own demand, with an annual rate of between 1,000 and 2,000 million cartridges.

Influence on peace processes

The use of light weapons is closely linked to the internal nature of current conflicts. Between 1990 and 1995, 3,200,000 people died in this type of armed confrontation.^{[citation needed]} The proliferation of automatic light weapons has multiplied the points of violence on the planet, It has facilitated the tremendous lethality of conflicts, it has lengthened them over time and has made them more difficult to deal with.

On the other hand, when hundreds of thousands or millions of weapons are accumulated in a war, peace is then mortgaged by said arsenal, a part of which is later diverted and used by terrorist groups, paramilitaries, guerrillas, criminal groups, citizens or private security forces.

Weapons change recipients, but their quantity does not decrease. The proliferation of light weapons in the hands of civilians increases the chances that they will be used in any human confrontation. This explains, for example, why a young American is twelve times more likely to be shot to death than any young European.

Measurements

In November 1995, the General Assembly of the United Nations asked the Secretary General to establish a group of experts to write a report on the subject, which was presented in August 1997, and which among other things recommends organizing a conference to fight small arms trafficking, destroy surplus stockpiles and adopt regional moratoria.

In Europe, in June 1997, the Member States signed a program to prevent and combat the illicit trafficking of Conventional Weapons, although the most notable is the Joint Action of December 17, 1998, adopted by the Council of the Union Union on the contribution to combating the destabilizing accumulation and proliferation of small arms and light weapons.

In July 2001, at the first UN conference on conventional weapons, an Action Plan was adopted in which governments pledged to fight against the proliferation of this type of weapon and reduce its demand. In 2006 there will be a new Review Conference, where all the countries of the world will have to explain what they have done during this period.

At the G8 meeting in Gleneagles in July 2005, the participating countries in their final communiqué mentioned the need to develop international norms that included an agreement on the responsibility of governments. Despite this declaration of intent, there is not much hope since these same governments control more than 80 percent of world arms exports.

Arms industry by country

Israel

Israel's defense industry (Hebrew: תעשייה ביטחונית בישראל) is an important strategic sector of Israel's economy and a large employer, as well as a major supplier of the Israel Defense Forces (IDF). Israel is one of the world's leading exporters of military equipment, accounting for 10% of the world total in 2007. In 2017, three Israeli companies were listed in the Stockholm International Institute for Peace Studies index. Among the top 100 arms production and military service companies in the world were Israeli companies: Elbit Systems, Israel Aerospace Industries and Rafael Advanced Defense Systems.

The defense industry in Eretz Israel is an important strategic sector and a large employer within the country. It is also a major player in the global arms trade market and is the world's sixth largest arms exporter as of 2014.

Total arms transfer deals exceeded US$12.9 billion between 2004 and 2011.

There are more than 150 active defense companies based in the State of Israel with a combined revenue of more than US$3.5 billion per year.

Israeli exports of defense equipment reached 7 billion US dollars in 2012, representing a 20 percent increase from the amount of defense-related exports in 2011. Great part of the exports are sold to the United States of America and Europe. Other major regions that Israeli defense teams buy include Southeast Asia and Latin America.

The nation of India is also a major country for Israeli arms exports, and remains one of the largest buyers of Israeli arms in the world.

Spain

Mechanical mule MM-1A Mk-2, best known for Falcata, produced by EINSA.

Developed and produced by UROVESA, military range.

Earth Exploration and Recognition Systems (SERT), Navantia.

The arms industry in Spain is made up of more than 130 defense companies, companies or entities that manufacture goods that are considered arms products, as well as those companies or entities dedicated to the manufacture of components and to provide services that contain military specificities..</ref> according to the Directory of the Military Industry in Spain of the JM Délas Center for Peace Studies, dependent on the Justícia i Pau Foundation.

Among them are some of the main Spanish companies in the aeronautical, technological or industrial sectors, which dedicate part of their activity to the manufacture of weapons, parts or military components. There are also companies that provide services with military specificities.

Three Spanish companies (Airbus Military, Navantia and Indra) are among the world's 100 largest companies in the defense and security sector, according to SIPRI reports.

Spain is the ninth largest arms exporter in the world for the period 2017-2021. It is one of the main arms suppliers to the Saudi regime.

Argentina

Fonts

• Thematic Guide on Light Weapons of the Solidary Channel developed by Carles Vidal from the document "Water Against Light Weapons", prepared by the UNESCO Chair for Peace and Human Rights.