An annual report by the Congressional Research Service states that Israel was the world’s seventh largest arms exporter in 2005, and was the second largest arms importer, after Saudi Arabia. The Congressional Research Service is the public policy research arm of Congress that operates as a legislative branch agency within the Library of Congress.
The report was sent to legislators on Capital Hill. It relies mainly on US government data, which indicate that the US was the world’s largest arms exporter, delivering $11.5 billion worth of arms to customers, including Israel. The UK was in second place, with $3.12 billion worth of arms exports, followed by Russia ($2.8 billion), France ($1.6 billion), China ($900 million), and Germany ($600 million).
The report distinguishes between arms deliveries and contracts. Israel delivered $600 million worth of arms in 2005, making it the seventh largest arms exporter. Israeli defense contractors had arms contracts worth $1.1 billion, putting Israel in tenth place in terms of arms export contracts. The difference between the two figures is for contracts whose deliveries take more than one year.
The report states that Israel imported $1.7 billion worth of arms and military equipment in 2005. Saudi Arabia imported $3.5 billion worth of arms. The report states that Israel signed arms procurement contracts worth an aggregate $9.5 billion in 1998-2005. The report did not provide a figure for contracts signed in 2005 alone, which may indicate that Israel signed no arms procurement contracts last year.
A breakdown of the figures shows that Israel signed $6.6 billion in arms procurement contracts with the US alone in 1998-2001. Four years later, however, Israel has diversified its sources of arms: $2.5 billion from the US, $300 million from Russia, and $100 million from small European countries (i.e. not the UK, France, Germany, or Italy).
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes.co.il - on October 30, 2006
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