This article analyzes the current situation in the global arms market. The authors of the article study the role of the main players in the international arms and military equipment market, determine the main trends in the development of the world arms market, analyze the current statistical data characterizing the state of this market.
The analysis allows us to conclude that, despite significant dynamic and structural changes, the demand for weapons in the world is not decreasing, as is the competition between the main suppliers of weapons. The intensification of military-political tensions led to an acceleration in the growth rates of the world arms trade. In addition, the geographic vector of development is changing in the global arms market. If in the second half of the twentieth century the Middle East actively acted as importing countries, then in the twenty-first century the center of world trade in military products shifted to Asia and Oceania, where the main importers of weapons are India, Pakistan, Vietnam, Singapore, South Korea, Indonesia, Japan and Australia. Most recently, there has been a new increase in demand for weapons from the Middle Eastern states, primarily Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Kuwait and Egypt.