DTN News - DEFENSE NEWS: Russia Revs Up Arms Exports
(NSI News Source Info) TORONTO, Canada - February 23, 2012: In 2011, Rosoboronexport, Russia’s main arms exporting agency, fetched $13.2 billion from its arms and military equipment sales, which exceeded the initial goal by $1.6 billion. Russia is the world’s second biggest arms exporter. By 2012, experts predict its turnover to surge even higher, surpassing the $14 billion mark.
The munitions market is one of those few spheres where Russia stands at par with Western powers. It is a considerable success, even though Russia slightly lags behind the US, whose sales revenues have reached $28-34 billion in 2011.
It’s worth noting, however, that the majority of American exports are related to US military aid programs and arms sales within NATO, where the US dominates both R&D and manufacturing. Thus, US-produced arms never fall short of demand, especially among the NATO novice members.
Over the past five years, Russian has been heavily concentrating on diversification of its weapons export market. Since then, it has witnessed a significant surge in demand and a drop in the shares of its largest contractors. Its reach keeps broadening with time. In 2011, Russia was selling munitions to 57 countries worldwide. But the year 2012 is expected to be pivotal, with major income flows coming from a few large contractors, mainly from India. In 2012, India will receive $7.7 billion worth of Russian arms, which amounts to over 60% of the Russian arms market and almost 80% of Indian imports.
