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Virtually two-thirds of the arms imported by European members of Nato over the previous 5 years have been produced by the US, in accordance with new analysis that underlined the continent’s deep reliance on American-made weapons.
Arms imports by the European nations greater than doubled between 2020 and 2024 in contrast with the earlier 5 years, because the area responded to Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, in accordance with knowledge from the Stockholm Worldwide Peace Analysis Institute (Sipri). The US equipped 64 per cent of those arms, up from 52 per cent between 2015-2019.
Mathew George, director of the Sipri Arms Transfers Programme, mentioned states moved ahead with choices to purchase US arms regardless of public calls “to take steps to reduce their dependence on arms imports and to strengthen the arms industry in Europe”.
The figures emphasise the dimensions of the problem dealing with European leaders as they search to scale back their army dependence on the US, as President Donald Trump has demanded that Europe change into extra accountable for its personal safety.
Though the continent’s Nato allies have been seeking to bolster their nationwide capabilities since Russia’s invasion three years in the past, Trump’s return to the White Home has added contemporary momentum.
Leaders from the EU’s 27 members final week endorsed new defence funding initiatives proposed by Brussels, together with an instrument that would offer €150bn in loans to capitals to spend on army capabilities.
European Fee President Ursula von der Leyen mentioned on Sunday that she wished to make use of the loans to scale back reliance on arms purchased exterior the bloc. She mentioned it was “very important” that the injection was used to ship “on research, development and good jobs here in Europe”.
The €150bn fund has change into a brand new flashpoint in a long-standing battle between France and Germany over the continent’s rearmament drive and whether or not it ought to embody nations exterior the bloc. The fee chief believed it was necessary to be “smart” and maintain good connections with Norway and the UK.
Trade executives have echoed calls that the area wanted to scale back dependency on non-European suppliers with a purpose to enhance its resilience. There are rising considerations that the US might even determine to withhold essential assist for key weapon techniques, such because the superior F-35 fighter jet.
Pieter Wezeman, senior researcher at Sipri, mentioned that confronted with an “increasingly belligerent Russia and transatlantic stress during the first Trump presidency, European Nato states had taken steps to rescue their dependence on arms imports and to strengthen the European arms industry”.
However he additionally burdened the “deep roots” of Europe’s arms relationship with Washington, noting how European Nato capitals had “almost 500 combat aircraft and many other weapons still on order from the US”.
All through the postwar period, European governments spent lavishly on costly American weapons, seeing this as the value of conserving Washington dedicated to the continent’s safety.
Władysław Kosiniak-Kamysz, Poland’s defence minister, informed journalists final month: “Europe should invest more in security to retain the presence of the Americans in Europe, and not to replace them.”
He added that this “insurance policy” would present the brand new administration that they have been assembly the 2 situations that Trump steadily underlines because the quid professional quo for US assist — increased defence spending and “mutual economic relations for American business”.
Sipri’s annual evaluation of worldwide arms transfers additionally underlined how the US had cemented its place because the world’s high arms exporter, rising its share of exports from 35 per cent to 43 per cent over the five-year interval.
Ukraine, in the meantime, grew to become the world’s largest importer of main arms over that timeframe, with imports rising almost 100 instances because the nation sought to combat off Russia’s forces.
For the primary time in twenty years, the biggest share of US arms went to Europe moderately than the Center East, though Saudi Arabia was the highest single recipient of US weapons.
The US remained the provider of selection for superior long-range strike capabilities like fight plane, Sipri mentioned.
The info additionally confirmed that the highest 10 arms exporters previously 5 years have been the identical as these within the earlier interval, however that Russia fell to 3rd place behind France as exports slid. Italy jumped from tenth to sixth place.
Russian arms exports fell by 64 per cent between 2015 and 2019, and 2020 and 2024, because the Ukraine warfare “accelerated” the decline in Moscow’s potential to export weaponry.
Wezeman mentioned this was as a result of Russia wanted to maintain extra of its home manufacturing to make use of on the battlefield, in addition to the problem of sanctions and western stress on different nations to not purchase from Moscow.
Two-thirds of Russian arms exports went to India, China and Kazakhstan, in accordance with the analysis.
China’s imports of arms shrunk by 64 per cent between the 2 durations because the nation more and more substituted imports — primarily from Russia — with regionally designed and produced weapon techniques. China’s arms imports are more likely to maintain falling because the capability of its home arms business grows, in accordance with Sipri.
Further reporting by Henry Foy in Brussels
