Germany Peace researcher: Europe is massively arming itself
The Russian attack on Ukraine and the uncertainty surrounding US President Donald Trump's foreign policy have prompted European countries to rearm heavily. Contrary to the global trend, European imports of heavy armaments such as fighter jets, tanks and submarines have increased by a whopping 155 percent over the past two five-year periods, according to a new report by the Stockholm-based peace research institute Sipri. In contrast, the global volume of such arms imports fell minimally by 0.6 percent.
10.03.2025, 04:06
SDA
"The new arms transfer figures clearly reflect the rearmament taking place among states in Europe in response to the threat from Russia," explained Sipri program director Mathew George. The fact that the global volume remained relatively unchanged is due to the fact that some major arms importers, such as Saudi Arabia, India and China, recorded significant declines in imports for various reasons - despite the perceived high threat level in their regions.
The Sipri data refer to the volume of arms deliveries, not their financial value. As this volume can fluctuate greatly from year to year depending on the order situation and the peace researchers are interested in long-term trends in their reports, they compare five-year periods instead of individual years, i.e. this time the years 2020-2024 with 2015-2019.
Meaningful figures on the war in Ukraine
The extent to which the war in Ukraine has influenced the arms trade in recent years is shown by two highly significant figures:
* 9,627 percent: Ukraine has now become the largest arms importer in the world, increasing its share of global arms imports almost a hundredfold from less than 0.1 to now 8.8 percent over the five-year period. While the country imported only a few heavy weapons from abroad before the Russian invasion in February 2022, it was by far the world's largest arms importer in 2023 and 2024. The largest arms suppliers were the USA (45%), Germany (12%) and Poland (11%). However, President Trump's US administration recently suspended military aid to Ukraine for the time being. At the same time, Ukraine itself exported 72% less military equipment abroad - because it needs the weapons itself.
* Down 64 percent: on the other side of the war front, Russia's share of global arms exports, at 7.8 percent, is virtually only a third of the 21 percent of the same period last year. In other words: Russia is selling far fewer weapons abroad because, on the one hand, it needs them itself for its war of aggression against Ukraine. On the other hand, trade sanctions are making Russian arms exports more difficult. The USA and its allies are also putting pressure on other countries to stop buying weapons from Russia.
How Europe's arms exports are linked to Trump
However, Europe's surge in imports is not only linked to Ukraine, but also to political changes in the USA: during his first term in office (2017-2021), US President Trump demanded that European NATO partners drastically increase their defense spending. Many Europeans have complied, as the Sipri figures confirm: European NATO countries have more than doubled their defense imports overall (up 105 percent), according to the report.
Transatlantic relations have nevertheless deteriorated further since Trump's renewed election victory at the end of 2024. At the same time, Europe remains heavily dependent on the USA when it comes to arms trade: 64% of imports by European NATO countries have come from the USA in the past five years - and there is more to come: according to Sipri, Europeans have ordered 472 fighter jets and 150 combat helicopters from the United States alone by the end of 2024, with delivery still pending.
Top dog USA
However, the peace researchers also see signs that Europe wants to free itself from this dependency: "In the face of an increasingly belligerent Russia and strained transatlantic relations during the first Trump presidency, the European NATO states have taken steps to reduce their dependence on arms imports and strengthen the European arms industry," said Sipri researcher Pieter Wezeman. This will not be easy: "The transatlantic arms supply relationship has deep roots," the expert noted.
For the time being, the USA remains the absolute top dog in the arms market, if only because of its leading role in the production of fighter aircraft: between 2020 and 2024, it exported military equipment to 107 countries, further increasing its arms exports by 21% and raising its global export share from 35% to 43%. France (9.6%), Russia (7.8%), China (5.9%) and Germany (5.6%) follow far behind.
Germany is the fifth largest arms exporter in the world
While other large EU states such as France, Italy, Spain and Poland were able to increase their share of global exports, in some cases significantly, Germany's share fell by 2.6% in a five-year comparison. Just over a third of German arms deliveries went to countries in the Middle East - particularly Egypt and Israel - and to European countries, primarily Ukraine.
"The figures make it painfully clear how urgently a restrictive German arms export control law is needed, which the traffic light coalition has promised but not delivered," explained Alexander Lurz, disarmament expert at the peace organization Greenpeace. He criticized the fact that a large proportion of German weapons are supplied to the Middle East crisis region. "Germany is still the fifth largest arms exporter in the world, with sales going not only to democracies and states under attack, but also to autocracies."
