Submitted by Taps Coogan on the 5th of April 2018 to The Sounding Line.

The United States is the largest arms exporter in the world and the following chart, from Statista.com, reveals the largest recipients of American arms exports.

“Based on data from the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, over the last ten years, the two biggest importers have been Saudi Arabia and South Korea. This infographic uses the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute’s “trend-indicator values” (TIV). These are based on the known unit production costs of weapons and represent the transfer of military resources rather than the financial value of the transfer.”

It is interesting to note that despite NATO being the US’s premier defense treaty, of the top 15 buyers of American arms, only three are in NATO (Canada, Turkey, and the UK). With most NATO member countries falling far short of their commitments on military spending, it would appear that the US is making equipment available and finding interested buyers elsewhere. To the extent that one can judge the depth of a defense relationship by arms sales, the US’s recent lack of enthusiasm for NATO is understandable.

You will find more infographics at Statista

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