Weapons sales by the United States tripled in 2011 to a record high,
driven by major arms sales to Persian Gulf allies concerned about Iran’s regional ambitions, according to a new study for Congress.
Overseas weapons sales by the United States totaled $66.3 billion last
year, or more than three-quarters of the global arms market, valued at
$85.3 billion in 2011. Russia was a distant second, with $4.8 billion in
deals.
The American weapons sales total was an “extraordinary increase” over
the $21.4 billion in deals for 2010, the study found, and was the
largest single-year sales total in the history of United States arms
exports. The previous high was in fiscal year 2009, when American
weapons sales overseas totaled nearly $31 billion.
A worldwide economic decline had suppressed arms sales over recent
years. But increasing tensions with Iran drove a set of Persian Gulf
nations — Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Oman — to purchase
American weapons at record levels.
These Gulf states do not share a border with Iran, and their arms
purchases focused on expensive warplanes and complex missile defense
systems.
The report was prepared by the nonpartisan Congressional Research
Service, a division of the Library of Congress. The annual study,
written by Richard F. Grimmett and Paul K. Kerr and delivered to
Congress on Friday, is considered the most detailed collection of
unclassified arms sales data available to the public.
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