June 26, 2011:
Last year, Israel became one of the top four arms exporters on the planet, shipping $7.2 billion worth of military equipment. The year before, Israel had exported $6.9 billion. The U.S. is the largest exporter, followed by Russia ($10 billion last year) and Germany. Israel is now number four.
Half the weapons exported worldwide last year came from the United States (mostly) and Russia. European nations have long occupied the next three slots (Germany, France and Britain.) But lately, German and Israeli exports have been growing. The other big exporters are Spain, Chinal, Netherlands and Italy. These top ten exporters accounted for over 90 percent of the exports. The major importers are Middle Eastern Arab nations, India, South Korea, China and (until recently) Greece.
Israel and Germany have been gaining more sales because of reliability and quality. Israel has a major advantage in that many of its weapons and military equipment have proved their worth in combat.