America accounted for 36% of global defence exports in 2014-18. But the days of Western dominance might be numbered
of foreign arms to the Arabian peninsula began in earnest 150 years ago. As European armies adopted modern breech-loading rifles, a stock of old-fashioned weapons was left surplus to requirements. Rivalries among Arab tribes created a ready-made market for ageing arms. A combination of the region’s chronic instability and oil riches has since continued to fuel weapons sales. Most of them still come from the West. Now the shifting sands of geopolitics have left an opening for others.
A growing share of these revenues comes from the Middle East. In 2014-18 the region received a third of the world’s arms exports, second only to Asia Pacific, according to. Countries there imported 87% more weapons in that period than they had in the previous five years. In 2018 Saudi Arabia splurged $68bn on military kit, more than anyone bar America and China. The United Arab Emirates was the seventh-biggest spender in 2014-18; tiny Qatar and Oman made the top 20.
Most Middle Eastern cash goes on air power. Buying, arming and maintaining combat jets is an expensive business, accounting for nearly two-thirds of global exports in the past decade. Saudi Arabia has amassed the world’s eighth-largest fleet of combat aircraft.
Peter Navarro, President Donald Trump’s trade adviser, has complained that the Wing Loong II, made by the Chengdu Aircraft Industry Group, is a “a clear knock-off” of the Predator drone built by America’s General Atomics . Rainbow-4 drones, developed by the China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation, look an awful lot like’s smaller Reaper. Mr Trump has sought to ease restrictions on exports of the American models.
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