SIPRI YEARBOOK 1998

8. Transfers of major conventional weapons*
Siemon T. Wezeman and Pieter D. Wezeman

The global SIPRI trend-indicator value of international transfers of major conventional weapons in 1997 was just over $25 billion. There has been a clear trend of increasing arms transfers since 1994, but the volume is still only 62% of the volume in 1987, when the highest level since 1950 was reached.

There were no major changes in the ranked list of arms exporters in 1997. The USA remained the dominant exporter, increasing its share of deliveries to 43%. Nearly all the transfers originate from a small number of supplier countries. The leading suppliers for the period 1993-97 were the USA, Russia, the UK, France, Germany and China. Among the arms recipients, countries in North-East Asia and the Middle East are the leading importers.

While plagued by many serious armed conflicts, the countries in Sub-Saharan Africa are not major recipients of major conventional weapons and there seems to be no indication that these weapons have played an important role in the outbreak or outcome of these conflicts.

With some important exceptions, most arms exporters provide official data on weapon exports. However, much of this information is aggregated and there is no common definition of arms transfers upon which countries base their figures. Generally, the official data are difficult to analyse or to compare. In 1997, several countries released, for the first time, data on arms exports or promised to do so in 1998. In 1997 a group of government experts evaluated the UN Register of Conventional Arms but failed to reach a consensus regarding changes or improvements.

Appendices 8A and 8B, by Ian Anthony, Pieter D. Wezeman and Siemon T. Wezeman, provide data on the transfers of major conventional weapons in 1997.

Appendix 8C explains the sources and methods for the data collection.