The Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) reported June 11 that last year some $1.204 trillion was spent on military matters all over the world. The United States accounted for $528.7 billion, followed by Britain ($59 billion) and France ($53 billion). Some 40 U.S. firms accounted for 63 percent of the Top 100 arms sales worth a combined $290 billion in 2005.
China last year for the first time overtook Japan as Asia`s biggest military spender and the world`s fourth-biggest, with a budget of $50 billion. India ranked No. 3 in Asia, with $24 billion, and Russia spent an estimated $35 billion. But China still only accounts for an estimated 4 percent of global arms expenditures, compared with the United States` 46 percent.
Yet while the Chinese mainly 'modernize' most of their traditional arms sectors, they are significantly building up their intercontinental ballistic missile arsenal, Lange said.
Almost 50 percent more conventional weapons (by volume) were transferred internationally in 2006 than in 2002, SIPRI said. China and India were the largest importers of weapons, with the United States and Russia being the largest suppliers.
The annual inventory of global nuclear forces, the United States, Russia, France, the United Kingdom and China together held more than 26,000 nuclear warheads at the beginning of 2007 . (Source: Stefan Nicola, UPI, Jun 12, 2007).