December 14, 2007: Israel has displaced Britain as
the fourth largest exporter of weapons on the world market. Israel exported
over $4 billion worth of weapons this year. The U.S. is biggest customer for
Israeli military gear, accounting for nearly 20 percent of Israeli exports.
Such sales have been increasing year by year. The latest buy includes things
like Lightning targeting pods, high tech helmets for fighter pilots (Israel
supplied most of the technology for the new U.S. JHMCS helmets), and numerous
other bits of military components and technology. While Israel buys a lot of
American weapons (mainly major systems, like jet fighters, that tiny Israel
cannot afford to build), Israel has developed a lot of unique, and combat proven
weapons and military technology. A lot of this stuff used American weapons as a
starting point, then improved on that.
The U.S. accounts for about a third of arms
exports. Thus three nations, the U.S., Russia and Israel, supply about half the
worlds arms exports (currently nearly $50 billion a year). Russia has also been
growing rapidly as an arms exporter, with several other European nations
(France, Britain, Spain, Italy) hustling move their weapons on the world
market. China is another growing supplier, as is South Korea.
