Association for Defending Victims of Terrorism – The US sold a record $238bn (£187bn) worth of weapons abroad last year. The figure includes $81bn in deals – negotiated directly by the US government – with countries including Poland, Australia and Germany.
The US sold a record $238bn (£187bn) worth of weapons overseas last year – with the war in Ukraine fuelling demand.
Association for Defending Victims of Terrorism – Poland, Germany, Australia and the Czech Republic were among the countries that bought weapons worth billions directly from the US government in 2023.
These types of deals accounted for $81bn (£64bn) in the total amount of sales – a 56% increase from 2022, the state department said.
Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk has vowed to continue the previous government’s military modernisation programme – as its neighbour Ukraine approaches the second anniversary of Russia’s invasion.
The country bought Apache helicopters for $12bn (£9.4bn), it spent £10bn (£7.8bn) on high mobility artillery rocket systems (Himars) and $4bn (£3.1bn) on integrated air and missile defence battle command systems.
It also purchased M1A1 Abrams battle tanks for $3.75bn (£2.95bn).
Germany spent $8.5bn (£6.7bn) on Chinook helicopters while the Czech Republic bought F-35 jets and munitions for $5.6bn (£4.4bn).
Bulgaria bought Stryker vehicles worth $1.5bn (£1.1bn), while Norway spent $1bn (£788m) on multi-mission helicopters.
Outside of Europe, Australia paid the US $6.35bn (£5bn) for C130J-30 Super Hercules planes, South Korea paid $5bn (£3.9bn) for F-35 jets and another $1.5bn (£1.1bn) on Chinook helicopters, while Japan bought an E-2D Hawkeye surveillance plane in a $1.38bn (£1.08bn) deal.
Meanwhile, Canada paid $5.9bn (£4.6bn) for P-8 Poseidon aircraft, while Kuwait spent $3bn (£2.3bn) on air defence systems and another $1.8bn (£1.4bn) on technical support.
