Saudi, Qatar, Egypt Rank in Top 10 Largest Arms Importers Over Past 5 Years
Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Egypt ranked among the top ten largest importers of weapons and arms in the world in the five years through 2022, the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) think-tank said on Monday.
Saudi Arabia ranked as the second largest arms importer globally in 2018-2022. The Kingdom received 9.6 percent of all arms imports during that period. Saudi arms purchases during 2022 included aircraft, air defence systems, armoured vehicles, missiles, naval weapons, sensors and ships. Saudi Arabia’s main suppliers and their share of its total imports: US (78 percent), France (6.4 percent) and Spain (4.9 percent). The US arms transfers to Saudi Arabia included “the delivery of 91 combat aircraft with hundreds of land-attack missiles and over 20,000 guided bombs,” according to SIPRI’s report.
Qatar ranked as the third largest arms importer over the past five years, climbing up from being ranked sixth over the prior five-year period. Its imports increased by 311 percent when comparing the data between the two time periods. Qatar’s purchases during 2022 included aircraft, air defence systems, armoured vehicles, missiles, naval weapons, sensors and ships. The Gulf country’s main suppliers and their share of its total imports: US (42 percent), France (29 percent) and Italy (14 percent). Its imports included “36 combat aircraft from France, 36 from the USA and 8 from the UK, as well as 3 frigates from Italy,” SIPRI said.
Egypt ranked as the six largest arms importer over the past five years; its ranking dropping from being ranked third over the prior five-year period as its overall imports were down by 5.3 percent when comparing between the two time periods. During the last year, Egypt purchased aircraft, missiles, naval weapons, sensors and ships. Russia’s arms exports to Egypt increased by 44 percent when comparing the data between the two time periods of 2013-2017 and 2018-2022, making it Russia’s third largest recipient.
The top 10 largest importers of arms in the Middle East were: Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Egypt, UAE, Kuwait, Algeria, Morocco, Jordan, Bahrain, and Iraq.
