Advertisement

Saudi Arabia keeps military trade crown

DPA/The Local
DPA/The Local - [email protected]
Saudi Arabia keeps military trade crown
A deal to buy 270 Leopard 2 tanks from Germany did not go through. Photo: DPA

Saudi Arabia bought more military equipment off Germany in 2012 than any other country, a report on Monday revealed. But German arms sales on the whole sank in value from €5.4 billion to €4.7 billion.

Advertisement

P { margin-bottom: 0.21cm; }

The Gulf state, which has a poor human rights record, spent around €1.2 billion of the nearly €5 billion sales made by the government on exporting military hardware.

Saudi Arabia bought gun laying equipment and weapons sights, as well as missile steering technology. It had planned to buy 270 armed tanks but the deal fell through.

The report will be presented in front of Germany’s cabinet on Wednesday, when politicians will hear which countries are benefiting most from Germany's active arms industry.

While military equipment sales have dropped, the sale of weapons has gone up. In 2012, pistol and machine gun sales to countries outside of EU and NATO rose from €17.9 million in 2011 to €37 million.

Angela Merkel's Christian Democratic Union and the centre-left SPD who are in coalition talks decided during negotiations that the gun trade needed to be more strictly controlled by the next government.

More

Join the conversation in our comments section below. Share your own views and experience and if you have a question or suggestion for our journalists then email us at [email protected].
Please keep comments civil, constructive and on topic – and make sure to read our terms of use before getting involved.

Please log in to leave a comment.

See Also