International arms sales surged last year to nearly $30.3 billion, the highest since 1996, and the United States solidified its position as the world’s biggest arms dealer, according to an authoritative government report.
The report by Congressional Research Service, an arm of the Library of Congress, showed that U.S. contractors sold nearly $11.8 billion in weapons in 1999–over a third of the world’s total and more than all European countries combined.
U.S. arms sales, like those worldwide, were still far below the peaks reached in the aftermath of the Persian Gulf War in 1991, but the United States has steadily increased sales since, from $7.7 billion in 1997 and $10.3 billion in 1998, the report found.
Russia vastly expanded its weapons sales in 1999–to $4.8 billion, nearly double the $2.6 billion in 1998. With the impoverished Russian military proving a meager customer, Russia’s military-industrial complex has begun a major effort to market its wares to Asia, the Middle East and Africa.
