{"id":41126,"date":"2014-03-24T12:00:19","date_gmt":"2014-03-24T12:00:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/?p=41126"},"modified":"2015-05-05T21:35:11","modified_gmt":"2015-05-05T20:35:11","slug":"india-remains-the-biggest-arms-buyer","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/2014\/03\/india-remains-the-biggest-arms-buyer\/","title":{"rendered":"India Remains the Biggest Arms Buyer"},"content":{"rendered":"

The total volume of arms sales was up 14 per cent in 2009-2013 compared to the previous five years.<\/i><\/i><\/p>\n

India<\/a> remains the biggest buyer of arms<\/a> in the world, importing nearly three times as many weapons as its nearest competitors China<\/a> and Pakistan<\/a> over the last five years, a Swedish think tank said on Monday [17 Mar 2014].<\/p>\n

The total volume of arms sales was up 14 per cent in 2009-13 compared to the previous five years, according to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI<\/a>). Indian imports of major weapons rose 111 per cent in the last five years compared to 2004-08. Its share of total global arms imports increased from seven to 14 per cent, SIPRI said.<\/p>\n

India replaced China as the world\u2019s biggest arms buyer in 2010. With its domestic defence<\/a> industry struggling to manufacture high-tech arms, India is in the midst of a defence spending binge as it struggles to keep up with better-equipped Chinese forces and a range of military challenges in its volatile neighbourhood.<\/p>\n

The main supplier of arms to India in 2009-13 was Russia, accounting for 75 per cent of all imports- reflecting India\u2019s need to upgrade and modernise weapons systems dating back to their close relationship during the Cold War.<\/p>\n

India has lately sought to diversify its sources, looking particularly to the US.<\/p>\n

Figures from IHS Jane\u2019s released in February showed that India became the biggest buyer of US weapons last year, with total imports worth $1.9 billion, and a string of large-scale purchases including Boeing’s C-17A transport aircraft and P-8I Maritime Patrol Aircraft.<\/p>\n

In 2009-13, however, the US still accounted for only seven per cent of India\u2019s purchases according to SIPRI.<\/p>\n

\"biggest<\/a><\/p>\n

India\u2019s traditional rival Pakistan increased its weapons acquisitions by 119 per cent, growing from two per cent of the global total to five per cent during that period.<\/p>\n

The five largest arms suppliers worldwide between 2009 and 2013 were the US, Russia, Germany, China and France .<\/p>\n

They collectively accounted for 74 per cent of total arms exports, SIPRI said.<\/p>\n

The world\u2019s top five arms importers were now India, China, Pakistan, the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia.<\/p>\n

\u201cChinese, Russian and US arms supplies to South Asia are driven by both economic and political considerations,\u201d said Siemon Wezeman, senior researcher with the SIPRI Arms Transfers Programme.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn particular, China and the USA appear to be using arms deliveries to Asia to strengthen their influence in the region,\u201d Wezeman said.<\/p>\n

Arms exports to Africa between 2004-08 and 2009-13 jumped 53 per cent. The three largest importers in the region were Algeria, Morocco and Sudan.<\/p>\n

Imports by European nations decreased by 25 per cent between 2004-2008 and 2009-13.<\/p>\n

Britain was the largest importer of major weapons in Europe (receiving 12 per cent of deliveries), followed by Azerbaijan (12 per cent) and Greece (11 per cent).<\/p>\n

Go to Original \u2013 business-standard.com<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

India remains the biggest buyer of arms in the world, importing nearly three times as many weapons as its nearest competitors China and Pakistan over the last five years, a Swedish think tank said on Monday [17 Mar 2014].<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[57],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-41126","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-militarism"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41126","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=41126"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41126\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=41126"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=41126"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=41126"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}