US weapon sales top $66 billion (that's $9.50 for everyone on the planet)

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If the United States shared its record revenue from international weapon sales in 2011 with the world, every person would have about $9.50.

Weapons sales by the US tripled to a record high of $66.3 billion, pumped up by $33.4 billion in sales to Saudi Arabia, according to an annual report prepared for Congress by the nonpartisan Congressional Research Service.

The sales by the US accounted for nearly 78 per cent of all global arms sales, which rose to $85.3 billion in 2011, the highest level seen since 2004, the report said.

Keeping in mind the United States is expected to reach a $16.4 trillion government debt by the end of the year, what does the figure of $66.3 billion in arms revenue represent?
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Government spending:

- Earnings from weapons sales are expected to top spending on housing and urban development in the 2012 fiscal year ($49 billion), or homeland security ($47 billion), or energy ($43 billion) or justice ($33 billion).

- Those earnings are $4.7 billion shy of the government's spending on education ($71 billion).

- It is about one eleventh of US defence spending ($766 billion).
(Source: Bloomberg)

Humanitarian and environmental spending:

- It is more than eight times what the government set aside for foreign assistance in the 2012 fiscal year under its global health initiative, which focuses on the health of women and families and on innovation ($8.17 billion).

- It is over 400 times the amount set aside for clean energy under the government's global climate change initiative ($160 million).

- It is 484 times the amount set aside for sustainable landscapes - which are activities that reduce gas emissions using the land - under the same program ($137 million).

The previous US arms revenue record was set in 2008, when sales reached $38.2 billion, measured in 2011 dollars.

While Washington remained the world's leading arms supplier, nearly all other major suppliers, except France, saw declines in 2011, according to the annual report prepared for Congress.

France signed arms sales valued at $4.4 billion in 2011, up from $1.8 billion a year earlier, but Russia, the world's number two arms dealer, saw its sales nearly halved to $4.8 billion in 2011. The four major European suppliers -- France, the United Kingdom, Germany, and Italy -- saw their collective market share drop to 7.2 percent in 2011 from 12.2 percent a year earlier.

Saudi Arabia was the biggest arms buyer among developing countries, concluding $33.7 billion in weapons deals in 2011, followed by India with purchases of $6.9 billion and the United Arab Emirates with $4.5 billion.

Key US weapons sales in 2011 included:

- $33.4 billion to Saudi Arabia for 84 Boeing Co F-15 fighters, dozens of helicopters built by Boeing and Sikorsky Aircraft, a unit of United Technologies Corp,

- $3.49 billion for Lockheed Martin Corp's Terminal High Altitude Area Defense, an advanced missile shield, to the United Arab Emirates, and $940 million for 16 Chinook helicopters built by Boeing,

- $1.4 billion for 18 F-16 fighter jets built by Lockheed Martin,

- a $4.1 billion agreement with India for 10 C-17 transport planes built by Boeing,

- and a $2 billion order by Taiwan for Patriot antimissile batteries.

Sydney Morning Herald


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