This article first appeared in Aviation Week & Space Technology.
DUBAI, UAE — China, France and Russia are increasingly aggressive in courting customers for their military products, but it is the U.S. that is raking in the big dollars — and increasingly so.
What’s more, the U.S.’s improving relationship with India could signal that record high levels of military exports are not just an aberration but are sustainable. This prospect would bring relief to U.S. defense companies, which face the possibility of shrinking modernization projects when Washington starts focusing on cutting its massive budget deficit.
A decade ago, the U.S. booked about $10 billion in foreign military sales (FMS). When those contracts reached $28 billion in fiscal 2008, many in the Pentagon thought it was an aberration, especially given the $10 billion jump from the year before. But there has been no sign of a letup. Vice Adm. Jeffrey A. Wieringa, director of the Defense Security Cooperation Agency, says the value of FMS commitments signed during the last fiscal year reached $38.1 billion, and this year’s total could top $50 billion based on estimates of deals in the negotiating pipeline.
Bucking a trend
Is the U.S. bucking a trend? Some defense suppliers, such as Saab, have suggested that sales are suffering because potential buyers are holding off on big-ticket spending decisions; others, such as the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (Sipri), note that nations such as Thailand or Malaysia are curbing expenditures. But at a broader level, Sipri sees “few signs that the global financial crisis is significantly affecting decision-making” among major arms importers.
Moreover, the amount of money being spent under the so-called Section 1206 authority — a mechanism created in the fiscal 2006 budget to train and equip foreign military forces — has risen steadily.
Read the rest of this story, get Ares gouge on the “mystery drone,” check out the A400M and Grizzly and read Obama speech reax from out friends at Aviation Week, exclusively on Military.com.
– Christian
{ 5 comments… read them below or add one }
lewis said it best "invent something that will kill someone faster and people will best down a door to buy it"
To FormerDirtDart:
Very little would be going to Iraq or A-stan. The major arms deals they want have yet to be finalized for Iraq. Just wait until they are. F-16s, Abrams MBTs, M-16s, HMMWVS, etc. That when approved should be over 1 billion there. A-stan is still trying to get training done so most of their stuff will be Small Arms and ammunition along with spare parts along with small amounts of refurbished equipment. The major dollars won't appear until the country is in a stable footing like Iraq is now. The US won't approve major items if they feel it will fall into the hands of the Taliban.
The major places for this? India is a large part of this. They want C-17s, they got the p-8s coming to them as well. Next year could be big for Boeing if they get the deals in Australia, Brazil, and India for FA-18 super hornets. Lockheed is also looking at the end zone too with possible sales of the F-35 to start soon as well.
Good Morning Folks,
Christian we have a problem here. Over on the buzz the past few weeks Colin has been pitching that the Chinese are challenging US dominance and will soon over take us in the military arena.
The only place that the US military is losing it’s world wide dominance is the corrupted minds of Winger/Libertarian “think tanks”, The Heritage Foundation admitted to such on this site a few weeks ago, that Boeing was a customer of theirs, but only a small one, who exist to peddle their customers wares in the corridors of Congress and the Pentagon like the ladies doing business at the corner of Wilshire and Sunset Blvd’s. at 1:00 A.M. in Hollywood.
From you post here, which I agree with, you appear to be questioning Colin and Greg on this issue. A little difference of opinions in the lunchroom at mil.comm I like it.
ALLONS,
Byron Skinner
I have to wonder how much of that $10 Billion jump were from "sales" to Iraq and Afghanistan.
I'd say less than 5% of it.