Asia News Report: DTN News - DEFENSE NEWS: Russia Revs Up Arms Exports
Source: DTN News - - This article compiled by Roger Smith from reliable sources The Voice of Russia
(NSI News Source Info) TORONTO, Canada - February 23, 2012: In 2011, Rosoboronexport, Russia’s main arms exporting agency, fetched $13.2 billion from its arms and military equipment sales, which exceeded the initial goal by $1.6 billion. Russia is the world’s second biggest arms exporter. By 2012, experts predict its turnover to surge even higher, surpassing the $14 billion mark.
The munitions market is one of those few spheres where Russia stands at par with Western powers. It is a considerable success, even though Russia slightly lags behind the US, whose sales revenues have reached $28-34 billion in 2011.
It’s worth noting, however, that the majority of American exports are related to US military aid programs and arms sales within NATO, where the US dominates both R&D and manufacturing. Thus, US-produced arms never fall short of demand, especially among the NATO novice members.
Over the past five years, Russian has been heavily concentrating on diversification of its weapons export market. Since then, it has witnessed a significant surge in demand and a drop in the shares of its largest contractors. Its reach keeps broadening with time. In 2011, Russia was selling munitions to 57 countries worldwide. But the year 2012 is expected to be pivotal, with major income flows coming from a few large contractors, mainly from India. In 2012, India will receive $7.7 billion worth of Russian arms, which amounts to over 60% of the Russian arms market and almost 80% of Indian imports.
Although Russian arms exports may sag in 2013, following the conclusion of several major contracts with India, this decrease will most likely prove to be insignificant. In the upcoming years, Vietnam will increase its share in the Russian arms exports, purchasing six Project 636 submarines, Su-30 fighter jets and ordering additional “Bastion” anti-ship cruise missiles.
In the near future, Venezuela is slated to receive a large batch of Russian weapons for its army. However, this particular market can be prone to throwing surprises at Russia due to a setback in the health of Hugo Chávez and a possible power change.
Further decline in the US-Russia relations may also bring Russia closer to Iran, which is in a great need of modern military equipment. Still, this perspective may shift in case of a war in the region and ensuing defeat of Iran, which would virtually close off the Iranian market for a long time to come.
Speaking of foreign exports, we shouldn’t rule out post-Soviet countries. The 2010-2011 periods saw a major increase in arms exports to the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS). These figures are expected to grow further as Soviet weapons become obsolete. As an arms exporter, Russia remains the best choice of the ex-Soviet block, particularly among the member states of the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO).
In the case of Kazakhstan, Belarus and possibly Ukraine, Russian weapons manufacturers can expect to receive big orders for expensive military equipment like state-of-the-art jets. Kazakhstan is already importing Russian armed vehicles, such as tank support combat vehicles, and is interested in renewing its aircraft fleet. During the Centre-2011 military drills, the commandment of Kazakhstan’s Armed Forced said they were closely looking at test results of Russia’s new aircraft – MiG-35, Su-35 jets and the prototype T-50 fifth-generation fighter. Ukraine may also consider purchasing Russian aircraft, since it doesn’t manufacture fighters on its own and urgently needs to replace its 1970-80 air fleet.
All in all, the Russian arms exports hinge on the trends in the economies of these countries and any unpredicted political shifts that may turn around their cooperation with Russia.
WORLD'S LARGEST DEFENSE BUDGETS - COURTESY WIKIPEDIA
This is a list of the ten countries with the highest defence budgets for the year 2010, which is $1.22 trillion or 76% of total world expenditures. The information is from the
Stockholm International Peace Research Institute.
[7][8] Total world spending amounted to $1.63 trillion USD in 2010.
- ^a SIPRI estimate
[EDIT]WORLD'S LARGEST ARMS EXPORTERS
The unit in this table are so-called trend indicator values expressed in millions of
US dollars at 1990s prices. These values do not represent real financial flows but are a crude instrument to estimate volumes of arms transfers, regardless of the contracted prices, which can be as low as zero in the case of military aid. Ordered by descending 2000-2010 values. The information is from the
Stockholm International Peace Research Institute.
[9]
The information is also from the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute or from the national defence commissions where available and is updated at least once a year.
Next to SIPRI there are several other sources that provide data on international transfers of arms. These include national reports by national governments about arms exports, the UN register on conventional arms and an annual publication by the
US Congressional Research Servicethat includes data on arms exports to developing countries as compiled by
US intelligence agencies. A list of such sources can be found at the SIPRI website.
[1] Due to the different methodologies and definitions used different sources often provide significantly different data. For example, according to
Statistisk sentralbyrå (Norway state statistics), Norway exports a greater value (in USD) of arms than many of the nations listed above.
Some of the differences are possibly due to deliberate over- or under-reporting by some of the sources. Governments may claim high arms exports as part of their role in
marketing efforts of their national arms industry or they may claim low arms exports in order to be perceived as a responsible international actor.
As of 2008 Britain has become the worlds leading developer of arms with British company BAE Systems.
[2] Defence group BAE Systems is the first company outside the U.S. to reach the top position,thanks to a deal with the Pentagon for mine-resistant vehicles to be used in Iraq and Afghanistan. According to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, a defence think tank, the former British Aerospace group's arms sales are ahead of American market leaders Lockheed Martin and Boeing. The report reveals BAE's U.S. subsidiary was alone responsible for 61.5 per cent of the group's arms sales and around 58.5 per cent of total group sales. This demonstrates BAE's increasing reliance on orders for conventional weapons as the U.S. cuts back on its nuclear arsenal. The British figures were also boosted by orders for Eurofighter Typhoon jets from Saudi Arabia.
After the success of Pakistan's major developments in the defence industry the Defence Export Promotion Organisation (D.E.P.O.) was created to promote Pakistani defence equipment to the world by inviting major and small players to the I.D.E.A.S. Exhibition, which is held annually at the Karachi expo center. In recent reports, the defence exports were worth over $500 million USD in 2006 and growing annually.
[EDIT]WORLD'S LARGEST ARMS IMPORTERS
The unit in this table are so-called trend indicator values expressed in millions of
US dollars. These values do not represent real financial flows but are a crude instrument to estimate volumes of arms transfers, regardless of the contracted prices, which can be as low as zero in the case of military aid.
Source: DTN News - - This article compiled by Roger Smith from reliable sources Ria Novosti
(NSI News Source Info) TORONTO, Canada - March 16, 2013: Russia’s Ufa-based engine maker will deliver the first 10 of 920 AL-31FP engines for the Su-30MKI Flanker-H to India before the end of March, the manufacturer said on Friday.
Russia Remains Key Arms Supplier for India – Rosoboronexport
