UK Defence Giants Makes Britain world’s second largest arms seller

[mike2000 is back]

‘Thriving off conflict’: UK is world’s second largest arms seller
Published time: 16 Dec, 2015 17:13Edited time: 17 Dec, 2015 01:30
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© Neil Hall / Reuters
READ MORE: Mission creep? UK troops may deploy with Muslim ground army against ISIS – reports

The Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) found the UK was second only to the United States in selling weapons in 2014.

Britain’s biggest arms company, BAE Systems, is the world’s third largest seller of weapons with over $25.7 billion in sales last year.

UK weapons sales made up 10.4 percent of the total $401 billion worth of arms sold around the world.

Other UK arms firms in the top 100 include Babcock (25), Serco (49), Cobham (53), QuinetiQ (72), GKN (70), and Meggitt (87).

Figures from SIPRI indicate the arms industry continues to profit from billions of pounds worth of sales to countries with poor human rights records, such as Saudi Arabia, Libya, Egypt, Bahrain, Syria, and Israel.

The Ministry of Defence (MoD) confirmed to RT in June that it has sold weapons to Saudi Arabia that are being used in the country’s ongoing war in Yemen.

Observers including Amnesty International have accused the Gulf kingdom of committing possible war crimes in the conflict.

Campaign Against Arms Trade (CAAT) spokesperson Andrew Smith told the CommonSpace news website that these British companies rely on government “compliance” to make money.

“The fact that the UK arms trade comes second only to the United States is a sign of the support it gets from the UK government,” he said.

“These companies thrive off conflict and rely on compliant governments in order to do so. BAE Systems, for example, does a huge amount of business in the Middle East, and its fighter jets are central to the destruction that has been unleashed on the people of Yemen.”

‘Thriving off conflict’: UK is world’s second largest arms seller — RT UK

Forget about Russian sensational propaganda title 'thriving off conflict' though. Since going by their own logic, Moscow also 'thrives off' conflict as well. lol

 

[Schutz]

lol at RT trying to smear the UK because of arms sales when every conflict in the world has Russian weapons, vehicles etc

 

[Penguin]

Quite surprising if UK is second only to US according to Sipri.
Below from Sipri: Top List TIV Tables

TIV of arms exports from the top 10 largest exporters
Generated: 11 January 2016
Figures are SIPRI Trend Indicator Values (TIVs) expressed in US$ m. at constant (1990) prices.
Source: SIPRI Arms Transfers Database

Rank 2014-2014 / Rank 2013-2013 / Supplier / 2014 / 2014-2014
1 2 United States 10194 10194
2 1 Russia 5971 5971
3 4 France 1978 1978
4 5 United Kingdom 1704 1704
5 7 Germany (FRG) 1200 1200
6 9 Spain 1110 1110
7 3 China 1083 1083
8 8 Israel 824 824
9 6 Italy 786 786
10 10 Ukraine 664 664

Rank 2013-2013 / Rank 2012-2012 / Supplier / 2013 / 2013-2013
1 2 Russia 8462 8462
2 1 United States 7384 7384
3 3 China 2068 2068
4 6 France 1578 1578
5 7 United Kingdom 1484 1484
6 8 Italy 953 953
7 5 Germany (FRG) 942 942
8 11 Israel 756 756
9 10 Spain 733 733
10 4 Ukraine 708 708

Rank 2012-2012 / Rank 2011-2011 / Supplier / 2012 / 2012-2012
1 1 United States 9018 9018
2 2 Russia 8402 8402
3 6 China 1666 1666
4 12 Ukraine 1450 1450
5 5 Germany (FRG) 1161 1161
6 3 France 1067 1067
7 7 United Kingdom 930 930
8 8 Italy 828 828
9 11 Netherlands 783 783
10 4 Spain 546 546

Rank 2011-2011 / Rank 2010-2010 / Supplier / 2011 / 2011-2011
1 1 United States 9111 9111
2 2 Russia 8556 8556
3 6 France 1770 1770
4 12 Spain 1437 1437
5 3 Germany (FRG) 1359 1359
6 4 China 1336 1336
7 5 United Kingdom 1010 1010
8 9 Italy 939 939
9 7 Sweden 705 705
10 8 Israel 587 587

Rank 2010-2010 / Rank 2009-2009 / Supplier 2010 / 2010-2010
1 1 United States 8169 8169
2 2 Russia 5993 5993
3 3 Germany (FRG) 2725 2725
4 5 China 1459 1459
5 6 United Kingdom 1101 1101
6 4 France 911 911
7 11 Sweden 664 664
8 8 Israel 647 647
9 9 Italy 524 524
10 12 Ukraine 470 470

Rank 2010-2014 / Rank 2009-2013 / Supplier / 2010 / 2011 / 2012 / 2013 / 2014 / 2010-2014
1 1 United States 8169 9111 9018 7384 10194 43876
2 2 Russia 5993 8556 8402 8462 5971 37383
3 4 China 1459 1336 1666 2068 1083 7612
4 3 Germany (FRG) 2725 1359 1161 942 1200 7387
5 5 France 911 1770 1067 1578 1978 7304
6 6 United Kingdom 1101 1010 930 1484 1704 6228
7 7 Spain 277 1437 546 733 1110 4102
8 8 Italy 524 939 828 953 786 4030
9 9 Ukraine 470 534 1450 708 664 3826
10 10 Israel 647 587 530 756 824 3345

In the last 5 years, Russian arms deals are 3,5x to 9x the value of those of UK...
Second to US is Russia in 4 out of 5 years, with Russia leading US in that 1 year it isn't 2nd.

 

[Blue Marlin]

‘Thriving off conflict’: UK is world’s second largest arms seller
Published time: 16 Dec, 2015 17:13Edited time: 17 Dec, 2015 01:30
Get short URL

© Neil Hall / Reuters
READ MORE: Mission creep? UK troops may deploy with Muslim ground army against ISIS – reports

The Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) found the UK was second only to the United States in selling weapons in 2014.

Britain’s biggest arms company, BAE Systems, is the world’s third largest seller of weapons with over $25.7 billion in sales last year.

UK weapons sales made up 10.4 percent of the total $401 billion worth of arms sold around the world.

Other UK arms firms in the top 100 include Babcock (25), Serco (49), Cobham (53), QuinetiQ (72), GKN (70), and Meggitt (87).

Figures from SIPRI indicate the arms industry continues to profit from billions of pounds worth of sales to countries with poor human rights records, such as Saudi Arabia, Libya, Egypt, Bahrain, Syria, and Israel.

The Ministry of Defence (MoD) confirmed to RT in June that it has sold weapons to Saudi Arabia that are being used in the country’s ongoing war in Yemen.

Observers including Amnesty International have accused the Gulf kingdom of committing possible war crimes in the conflict.

Campaign Against Arms Trade (CAAT) spokesperson Andrew Smith told the CommonSpace news website that these British companies rely on government “compliance” to make money.

“The fact that the UK arms trade comes second only to the United States is a sign of the support it gets from the UK government,” he said.

“These companies thrive off conflict and rely on compliant governments in order to do so. BAE Systems, for example, does a huge amount of business in the Middle East, and its fighter jets are central to the destruction that has been unleashed on the people of Yemen.”

‘Thriving off conflict’: UK is world’s second largest arms seller — RT UK

Forget about Russian sensational propaganda title 'thriving off conflict' though. Since going by their own logic, Moscow also 'thrives off' conflict as well. lol

these rt tweets would make great posters to show prospective clients the broad scale of weaponery avaliable.
thank you rt.

 

[Penguin]

TIV of arms exports from United Kingdom, 2013-2014, to:

Recipient 2013 2014 Total
Australia 9 10 19
Brazil 40 - 40
Chile 1 - 1
China 40 40 80
India 120 150 270
Indonesia - 541 541
Ireland - 33 33
Italy 12 12 24
Japan 33 16 49
Lithuania 73 - 73
Mozambique 6 - 6
Oman 289 145 434
Pakistan 1 - 1
Peru 4 4 8
Poland 10 - 10
Rwanda 0 - 0
Saudi Arabia 641 705 1346
Somalia 2 - 2
South Korea 12 24 36
Thailand 50 - 50
UAE 66 - 66
United States 76 24 100
Total 1484 1704 3187

Blue = rank 1; Green = rank 2; Orange = rank 3; Pink = rank 4; Red = rank 5
22 client countries, of which top 5 (from left to right):
2013: Saudi Arabia, Oman, India, US, Lithuania
2014: Saudi Arabia, Indonesia, India, Oman, China
2-years: Saudi Arabia, Indonesia, Oman, India, US.

TIV of arms exports from Russia, 2013-2014, to:

Recipient 2013 2014 Total
Afghanistan 81 203 284
Algeria 323 173 496
Armenia 16 - 16
Azerbaijan 316 604 920
Bangladesh 50 9 59
Belarus 75 60 135
Brazil - 35 35
Cameroon - 14 14
China 1133 909 2042
Congo 7 7 14
Egypt 27 25 52
Ghana 41 - 41
Hungary - 7 7
India 3742 2146 5887
Indonesia 351 56 406
Iran 22 4 26
Iraq 51 317 368
Kazakhstan 54 42 95
Libya 46 - 46
Malaysia 12 - 12
Myanmar 60 40 99
Nepal - 14 14
Nigeria - 58 58
Pakistan 33 - 33
Peru - 54 54
Rwanda - 14 14
Sudan 71 71 143
Syria 351 - 351
Turkmenistan 13 17 30
UAE 90 - 90
Uganda 20 - 20
Ukraine Rebels*- 23 23
Venezuela 1041 79 1119
Viet Nam 439 994 1433
Total 8462 5971 14432

Blue = rank 1; Green = rank 2; Orange = rank 3; Pink = rank 4; Red = rank 5
33 client countries plus 1 rebelious territory, of which top 5 (from left to right):
2013: India, China, Venezuela, Vietnam, Indonesia/Syria
2014: India, Vietnam, China, Azerbaijan, Iraq
2-years: India, China, Vietnam, Venezuela, Azerbaijan

Importer/Exporter TIV Tables

 

[mike2000 is back]

Quite surprising if UK is second only to US according to Sipri.
Below from Sipri: Top List TIV Tables

TIV of arms exports from the top 10 largest exporters
Generated: 11 January 2016
Figures are SIPRI Trend Indicator Values (TIVs) expressed in US$ m. at constant (1990) prices.
Source: SIPRI Arms Transfers Database

Rank 2014-2014 / Rank 2013-2013 / Supplier / 2014 / 2014-2014
1 2 United States 10194 10194
2 1 Russia 5971 5971
3 4 France 1978 1978
4 5 United Kingdom 1704 1704
5 7 Germany (FRG) 1200 1200
6 9 Spain 1110 1110
7 3 China 1083 1083
8 8 Israel 824 824
9 6 Italy 786 786
10 10 Ukraine 664 664

Rank 2013-2013 / Rank 2012-2012 / Supplier / 2013 / 2013-2013
1 2 Russia 8462 8462
2 1 United States 7384 7384
3 3 China 2068 2068
4 6 France 1578 1578
5 7 United Kingdom 1484 1484
6 8 Italy 953 953
7 5 Germany (FRG) 942 942
8 11 Israel 756 756
9 10 Spain 733 733
10 4 Ukraine 708 708

Rank 2012-2012 / Rank 2011-2011 / Supplier / 2012 / 2012-2012
1 1 United States 9018 9018
2 2 Russia 8402 8402
3 6 China 1666 1666
4 12 Ukraine 1450 1450
5 5 Germany (FRG) 1161 1161
6 3 France 1067 1067
7 7 United Kingdom 930 930
8 8 Italy 828 828
9 11 Netherlands 783 783
10 4 Spain 546 546

Rank 2011-2011 / Rank 2010-2010 / Supplier / 2011 / 2011-2011
1 1 United States 9111 9111
2 2 Russia 8556 8556
3 6 France 1770 1770
4 12 Spain 1437 1437
5 3 Germany (FRG) 1359 1359
6 4 China 1336 1336
7 5 United Kingdom 1010 1010
8 9 Italy 939 939
9 7 Sweden 705 705
10 8 Israel 587 587

Rank 2010-2010 / Rank 2009-2009 / Supplier 2010 / 2010-2010
1 1 United States 8169 8169
2 2 Russia 5993 5993
3 3 Germany (FRG) 2725 2725
4 5 China 1459 1459
5 6 United Kingdom 1101 1101
6 4 France 911 911
7 11 Sweden 664 664
8 8 Israel 647 647
9 9 Italy 524 524
10 12 Ukraine 470 470

Rank 2010-2014 / Rank 2009-2013 / Supplier / 2010 / 2011 / 2012 / 2013 / 2014 / 2010-2014
1 1 United States 8169 9111 9018 7384 10194 43876
2 2 Russia 5993 8556 8402 8462 5971 37383
3 4 China 1459 1336 1666 2068 1083 7612
4 3 Germany (FRG) 2725 1359 1161 942 1200 7387
5 5 France 911 1770 1067 1578 1978 7304
6 6 United Kingdom 1101 1010 930 1484 1704 6228
7 7 Spain 277 1437 546 733 1110 4102
8 8 Italy 524 939 828 953 786 4030
9 9 Ukraine 470 534 1450 708 664 3826
10 10 Israel 647 587 530 756 824 3345

In the last 5 years, Russian arms deals are 3,5x to 9x the value of those of UK...
Second to US is Russia in 4 out of 5 years, with Russia leading US in that 1 year it isn't 2nd.

That's if you count just british defence companies selling weapons from within the U.K itself. However when you include British defence companies sales with operations/production facilities around the globe, then we are second only to the U.S.itself. The article clearly stated that.

It's same with other global defence giants like Lockheed martin & Boeing(U.S), Airbus defence(Europe), Finmecca(Itay), Thales&Safran (France), United aircraft corporation&Rosoboronexport(Russia) etc who all have operations around the world.

Defense News Top 100 Global Defense Companies (2015)

 

[Penguin]

That's if you count just british defence companies selling weapons from within the U.K itself. However when you include British defence companies sales with operations/production facilities around the globe, then we are second only to the U.S.itself. The article clearly stated that.

It's same with other global defence giants like Lockheed martin & Boeing(U.S), Airbus defence(Europe), Finmecca(Itay), Thales&Safran (France), United aircraft corporation&Rosoboronexport(Russia) etc who all have operations around the world.

Defense News Top 100 Global Defense Companies (2015)

The article in post#1 actually does not state that.
Or: please be so kind to quote from post #1 where it says that.

There is only this "The Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) found the UK was second only to the United States in selling weapons in 2014." There is no explanation of how this conclusion was reached i.e. the counting method.

What does this new link supposedly show?

Supposedly "Figures from SIPRI indicate the arms industry continues to profit from billions of pounds worth of sales to countries with poor human rights records, such as Saudi Arabia, Libya, Egypt, Bahrain, Syria, and Israel."

TIV of arms exports from United Kingdom, 2013-2014, to:

Recipient 2013 2014 Total
Australia 9 10 19
Brazil 40 - 40
Chile 1 - 1
China 40 40 80
India 120 150 270
Indonesia - 541 541
Ireland - 33 33
Italy 12 12 24
Japan 33 16 49
Lithuania 73 - 73
Mozambique 6 - 6
Oman 289 145 434
Pakistan 1 - 1
Peru 4 4 8
Poland 10 - 10
Rwanda 0 - 0
Saudi Arabia 641 705 1346
Somalia 2 - 2
South Korea 12 24 36
Thailand 50 - 50
UAE 66 - 66
United States 76 24 100
Total 1484 1704 3187

Do you see Libya, Egypt, Bahrein, Syria or Israel in these Sipri data for UK exports?

 

[mike2000 is back]

The article in post#1 actually does not state that.
Or: please be so kind to quote from post #1 where it says that.

There is only this "The Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) found the UK was second only to the United States in selling weapons in 2014." There is no explanation of how this conclusion was reached i.e. the counting method.

What does this new link supposedly show?

Supposedly "Figures from SIPRI indicate the arms industry continues to profit from billions of pounds worth of sales to countries with poor human rights records, such as Saudi Arabia, Libya, Egypt, Bahrain, Syria, and Israel."


Do you see Libya, Egypt, Bahrein, Syria or Israel in these Sipri data for UK exports?

Britain’s biggest arms company, BAE Systems, is the world’s third largest seller of weapons with over $25.7 billion in sales last year.

UK weapons sales made up 10.4 percent of the total $401 billion worth of arms sold around the world.
Other UK arms firms in the top 100 include Babcock (25), Serco (49), Cobham (53), QuinetiQ (72), GKN (70), and Meggitt (87).

Thought this should be obvious from the article itself.

I do agree with you that the article itself should have been more precise(but it's RT what do you expect. lol).
This one is much better:

UK second biggest arms trader in the world, @SIPRIorg report finds

Middle East sales to abusive regimes boost British arms industry

BRITISH CORPORATIONS continue to punch above their weight in selling war weapons across the globe, a peace institute research group has found.

The annual report into the world’s 100 largest arms trade companies found that the UK came second only to the USA in the scale of its weapons industry for 2014.

Of the mammoth $401bn of arms sold by the companies, 10.4 per cent is split between eight UK businesses. The UK Government also boasts of being the world’s second biggest arms exporter, which included sales to 28 countries which abuse human rights.

The largest UK arms corporation is BAE Systems, the world’s third arms seller, with over $25.7bn in orders. Rolls-Royce is the 16th largest arms trader, with $5.4bn mainly in engine sales.

The other major UK arms corporations in the top 100 include Babcock (25th), Serco (49th), Cobham (53rd), QuinetiQ (72nd), GKN (79th) and Meggitt (87th).

The figures, from the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI), reveal the latest evidence on the scale of the UK arms trade, which profits from tens of billions of pounds of sales to repressive regimes such as Saudi Arabia, Libya, Egypt, Israel, Bahrain, and Syria.

The industry has seen a boost to its share values across the world following the Paris attacks, as countries and private firms launch further bombing campaigns in the Middle East and scale up military spending.

The UK Government provides unrivalled domestic support to arms dealers through the UK Trade and Investment Defence and Security Organisation (UKTI DSO), which promotes sales to abusive regimes for UK businesses.

In July UKTI DSO reported that “the UK has successfully retained its position as the second largest defence exporter globally” including 66 per cent of exports to the volatile Middle East region.

“The UK, USA and France are the major suppliers to the region,” according to the UKTI DSO.

Responding to the report, Andrew Smith of Campaign Against Arms Trade told CommonSpace: “The fact that the UK arms trade comes second only to the United States is a sign of the support it gets from the UK government. These companies thrive off conflict and rely on compliant governments in order to do so. BAE Systems, for example, does a huge amount of business in the Middle East, and its fighter jets are central to the destruction that has been unleashed on the people of Yemen.”

UK weapons sold to Saudi Arabia are being used in reported war crimes in Yemen, including the bombing of schools and killing of innocent civilians.

Previous atrocities linked to UK arms sales include Indonesia’s ‘encirclement and annihilation’ campaign in East Timor, Israel’s ‘Operation Cast Lead’ which killed 350 children in Gaza, Palestine, the killing of 7,000 Tamil civilians in Sri Lanka, the suppression of democracy protests in Bahrain and Egypt by Saudi Arabia and Mubarak respectively, and the arming of Gaddafi’s Libya.

CommonSpace journalism is completely free from the influence of advertisers and is only possible with your continued support. Please contribute a monthly amount towards our costs. Build the Scotland you want to live in - support our new media.

Picture courtesy of Oxfam International


Common Space - UK second biggest arms trader in the world, @SIPRIorg report finds

Dont mind the tone of the author though, just another leftist who blames all the world's ill on western companies. lol

 

[damm1t]

Come on let's create much more artificial conflicts guys still lots lots of arms are need to be sold...

 

[oprih]

There's truly a lot of money in military industry, too be honest I would love to get rich by selling and developing weapons.

 

[Schutz]

There's truly a lot of money in military industry, too be honest I would love to get rich by selling and developing weapons.

Likewise, so would 99% of people if it means money, morals go out the window if it means you get a big house and a new supercar

 

[Penguin]

y

BRITISH CORPORATIONS continue to punch above their weight in selling war weapons across the globe, a peace institute research group has found.

The annual report into the world’s 100 largest arms trade companies found that the UK came second only to the USA in the scale of its weapons industry for 2014.

Of the mammoth $401bn of arms sold by the companies, 10.4 per cent is split between eight UK businesses. The UK Government also boasts of being the world’s second biggest arms exporter, which included sales to 28 countries which abuse human rights.

The largest UK arms corporation is BAE Systems, the world’s third arms seller, with over $25.7bn in orders. Rolls-Royce is the 16th largest arms trader, with $5.4bn mainly in engine sales.

The other major UK arms corporations in the top 100 include Babcock (25th), Serco (49th), Cobham (53rd), QuinetiQ (72nd), GKN (79th) and Meggitt (87th).

The figures, from the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI), reveal the latest evidence on the scale of the UK arms trade, which profits from tens of billions of pounds of sales to repressive regimes such as Saudi Arabia, Libya, Egypt, Israel, Bahrain, and Syria.

The industry has seen a boost to its share values across the world following the Paris attacks, as countries and private firms launch further bombing campaigns in the Middle East and scale up military spending.

The UK Government provides unrivalled domestic support to arms dealers through the UK Trade and Investment Defence and Security Organisation (UKTI DSO), which promotes sales to abusive regimes for UK businesses.

In July UKTI DSO reported that “the UK has successfully retained its position as the second largest defence exporter globally” including 66 per cent of exports to the volatile Middle East region.

“The UK, USA and France are the major suppliers to the region,” according to the UKTI DSO.

Responding to the report, Andrew Smith of Campaign Against Arms Trade told CommonSpace: “The fact that the UK arms trade comes second only to the United States is a sign of the support it gets from the UK government. These companies thrive off conflict and rely on compliant governments in order to do so. BAE Systems, for example, does a huge amount of business in the Middle East, and its fighter jets are central to the destruction that has been unleashed on the people of Yemen.”

UK weapons sold to Saudi Arabia are being used in reported war crimes in Yemen, including the bombing of schools and killing of innocent civilians.

Previous atrocities linked to UK arms sales include Indonesia’s ‘encirclement and annihilation’ campaign in East Timor, Israel’s ‘Operation Cast Lead’ which killed 350 children in Gaza, Palestine, the killing of 7,000 Tamil civilians in Sri Lanka, the suppression of democracy protests in Bahrain and Egypt by Saudi Arabia and Mubarak respectively, and the arming of Gaddafi’s Libya.

CommonSpace journalism is completely free from the influence of advertisers and is only possible with your continued support. Please contribute a monthly amount towards our costs. Build the Scotland you want to live in - support our new media.

Picture courtesy of Oxfam International


Common Space - UK second biggest arms trader in the world, @SIPRIorg report finds

Dont mind the tone of the author though, just another leftist who blames all the world's ill on western companies. lol

This looks at the value of sales. It means western companies are selling greater value. Not necessarily the most arms. That's the difference between quantitiy and quality. Still, the proliferation of e.g. simple stuff such as cheap AK-47s or anti-personnel mines can account for a disproportionate (relative to value) share of casualities.

In short, great if you can sell a hign end systems like Typhoon or Su-30/34 or air-defence systems (S-300/S-400) but those are not typically the types of weapons being used in most on-going conflicts....