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☆ Arms maker says interest in its weapons 'largely' driven by Ukrainians using them to fight Russians
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-13 | by ( Charles R. Davis | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

A Polish arms maker says customers are flocking to weapons systems used in Ukraine. The state-owned PGZ said it has fielded two new orders for portable rocket launchers. Ukrainian forces have used such portable rocket launchers, or MANPADS, to challenge Russia's air supremacy. AdvertisementAdvertisementWhile providing Ukraine with arms serves Warsaw's national security interests, it is also proving a boon to its defense sector. Other arms makers have also used Ukraine as a selling point — Ukrainian firms, especially.

Persons: PGZ, Patryk Brzeziński, SIPRI, Oleg Skillar, cdavis@insider.com Organizations: Russia, Service, Defense, Russian, Defence and Security, International, United, Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, National Defense Magazine Locations: Polish, Ukraine, Wall, Silicon, London, Ukrainian, United States, Russian, Poland, Stockholm, Europe, Balkans, Estonia, Baltic, Abu Dhabi

☆ Germany's Scholz: Fresh Nuclear Disarmament Talks Should Include China
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-12 | by ( Sept. | At A.M. | ) www.usnews.com time to read: +1 min

BERLIN (Reuters) - German Chancellor Olaf Scholz called for new international negotiations on nuclear disarmament on Tuesday, saying that not only Russia and the United States but also China should be involved. "Getting a fresh start on arms control would be very important," he said at a religious event in Berlin, adding that several other countries had also built up a nuclear arsenal. Preventing Iran from producing uranium that could contribute to nuclear weapon production "remains an important task," he said. Scholz said nuclear weapons posed an existential threat to humanity, which is why there is an "immediate obligation" to do everything possible to ensure they are never used. According to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI), the number of operational nuclear weapons rose slightly in 2022 as countries implemented long-term force modernisation and expansion plans.

Persons: Olaf Scholz, Scholz, Andreas Rinke, Friederike Heine, Miranda Murray Organizations: BERLIN, Stockholm International Peace Research Institute Locations: Russia, United States, China, Berlin, Iran, Stockholm

☆ North Korean ammunition could offer Russian troops flawed but useful support
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-12 | by ( Josh Smith | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +5 min

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un arrived in Russia on Tuesday for meetings with President Vladimir Putin, where U.S. officials say they expect both sides to pursue an arms deal. The White House has said Russia wants to buy "literally millions" of artillery shells and rockets from North Korea. Hinton told Reuters the question of quality in North Korean artillery shells could have an impact if flaws fall outside accepted tolerances. The performance of North Korea's artillery and crews has been suspect since the North Korean army fired around 170 shells at the South Korean island of Yeonpyeong in 2010, killing four people. "However, it would matter if Korean ammunition is of such poor quality that it is just unsafe to use for Russian soldiers - there have been indications that such quality issues play with Korean ammunition," he added.

Persons: Danish Siddiqui, Kim Jong Un, Vladimir Putin, Joseph Dempsey, Siemon Wezeman, Wezeman, Patrick Hinton, Hinton, Josh Smith, Lincoln Organizations: REUTERS, Danish, Rights, International Institute for Strategic Studies, Western, North, Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, British Army, Royal United Services Institute, Korean, Thomson Locations: Pyongyang, North Korea, Rights SEOUL, Korea, Russia, Ukraine, Stockholm, Korean, Yeonpyeong, Washington

That’s almost three times what Russia spent on defense in 2021, before its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. Those figures are likely to underestimate the total spent on Russia’s war effort. He said that before the war Russia would typically splash around 3-4% of its annual gross domestic product on defense but now it could be anywhere between 8% and 10%. Russia’s exports are still greater than the value of its imports, despite a boost to the latter from the hefty military spending. Rising military spending is, on the other hand, boosting Russia’s industrial output and, with it, GDP.

Persons: London CNN —, Vladimir Putin, Putin, That’s, Richard Connolly, Janis Kluge, Irina Okladnikova, Liam Peach, it’s, Peach, Kluge, “, ”, —, Maksim Konstantinov, Alexandra Suslina, Suslina, Alexandra Prokopenko, Prokopenko, — Anna Cooban, Tim Lister, Olesya Dmitracova Organizations: London CNN, Reuters, Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, Royal United Services Institute for Defence, Security Studies, German Institute for International and Security Affairs, Capital Economics, CNN, “, ZUMA, International Monetary Fund, Carnegie Russia Eurasia Center, International Energy Agency, West Locations: “, Ukraine, Russia, Stockholm, Moscow, “ Russia, Russian, Saint Petersburg, Soviet, Berlin

The company has also begun offering retired workers meals at the canteen so they can share knowledge of recently re-started lines producing Soviet-era ammunition for Ukraine, he added. Jiri Hynek, president and executive director of the Defence and Security Industry Association (DSIA) of the Czech Republic, told Reuters a lack of workers could push production out of central Europe. The association, which represents more than 160 companies, said exports accounted for around 90 percent of the industry's production of weapons and military-related supplies. Of that, Hynek estimated that supplies of military equipment to Ukraine accounted for 40% of exports. PITCHING PATRIOTISMOther sectors in Poland – emerging Europe's biggest economy – and the Czech Republic have struggled in recent years to find workers: a situation that has driven up labor costs and dampened growth.

Persons: David Hac, Hac, Jiri Hynek, Hynek, Lukas Visingr, Artur Zaborek, Zaborek, Michael Kahn, Anna Koper, Daniel Flynn Organizations: Europe's, STV, Reuters, European Union, Defence and Security Industry Association, WB Group, Central, Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, Thomson Locations: PRAGUE, WARSAW, Europe, Poland, Czech Republic, Ukraine, Policka, Prague, Czech, Central Europe, Stockholm, Poland's

[1/8] Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskiy and South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol shake hands after a joint statement, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, in Kyiv, Ukraine July 15, 2023. South Korea is a U.S. ally and the world's ninth biggest arms exporter, according to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) think tank. In a press conference, Yoon said South Korea plans to provide "a larger scale of military supplies" to Ukraine this year, following last year's provision of non-lethal supplies such as body armour and helmets. Yoon said South Korea also plans to provide Ukraine with $150 million in humanitarian aid this year, following about $100 million in 2022. Yoon said on Saturday South Korea has delivered safety equipment and humanitarian aid that Ukraine needs, since May, including mine detectors.

Persons: Volodymyr Zelenskiy, Yoon Suk, Yoon Suk Yeol, Yoon, Zelenskiy, Yoon's, Ramon Pacheco Pardo, Pacheco Pardo, Joyce Lee, Olena, Josh Smith, Hyonhee, William Mallard, Andrew Cawthorne Organizations: South, REUTERS, NATO, Russia's, Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, Ukraine, Brussels School, Saturday, Seoul's, Seoul's Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport, Thomson Locations: Ukraine, Kyiv, U.S, Seoul, SEOUL, KYIV, Lithuania, Poland, South Korea, Stockholm, North Korea, Korea, South

☆ China has a reputation for exporting shoddy weapons, but its sales may get a boost from Russia's blunders in Ukraine
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-11 | by ( Michael Peck | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +7 min

If Russia's arms exports falter because of the war in Ukraine, China's appeal may only grow. Despite the drawbacks, Chinese arms exports may get a boost from the war in Ukraine. Mazhar ABID/Gamma-Rapho via Getty ImagesQuality concerns could be one reason for a pre-Ukraine decline in Chinese arms sales. On the other hand, SIPRI also found that German and British arms sales declined 35% and Israeli sales fell 15% during the same period. "As Russia's weapons availability may change as the war continues, China is prepared for when that time arrives."

Persons: Cindy Zheng, AAMIR QURESHI, Zheng, —, Mazhar ABID, SIPRI, NOEL CELIS Organizations: Service, RAND Corporation, Kamra, Getty, Nigerian Air Force, Pakistan —, Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, Germany's Puma, Getty Images Arms Locations: China, Beijing, Ukraine, Wall, Silicon, Islamabad, Africa, South Asia, Nigeria, Soviet, Myanmar, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Aslat, Karachi, Stockholm, Russia, AFP, Venezuela, Iran

☆ Analysis: Egypt faces external debt reckoning after borrowing spree
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-06 | by ( Patrick Werr | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +6 min

Amid a foreign currency crunch, Egypt has drawn down net foreign assets in the banking system by more than $40 billion in two years, partly used to prop up the pound. Reuters Graphics Reuters GraphicsReuters GraphicsFINDING FOREIGN FUNDSTwo of Egypt's main foreign currency streams, tourism and Suez Canal transit fees, have edged up. The hard currency squeeze has raised concerns about Egypt's ability to repay foreign debt. Those repayments to the IMF and foreign bond holders alone, worth about $4.5 billion, amount to more than half the annual $8 billion Egypt earns from the Suez Canal. Egypt's external loans leapt to $162.9 billion by December 2022 from under $40 billion in 2015, central bank data showed.

Persons: snubbing, Monica Malik, Moustafa Madbouly, Moody's, politican Abdel Fattah al, Sisi, Farouk Soussa, Goldman Sachs, Patrick Werr, Sumanta Sen, Aidan Lewis, Edmund Blair Organizations: Investors, International Monetary Fund, Finance, Reuters Graphics Reuters, Reuters, Reasssured, Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, Thomson Locations: CAIRO, Egypt, snubbing Egypt, Ukraine, Abu Dhabi, Suez, Cairo, Stockholm

South Korean companies do not disclose the unit prices for their weapons, which are often sold with support vehicles and spare parts. That will include building South Korean arms on license in Poland, officials in Seoul and Warsaw said. "It may work for some countries at very, very low volume," he added of Polish-brokered South Korean weapons sales, discussing challenges the joint operation might face. The 2022 arms deal began with South Korean companies signing a framework agreement with the Polish government. Seoul has since approved at least some South Korean weapons components for use in Ukraine.

The young Terao had just survived the world’s first nuclear attack. For Terao, the idea the world is hurtling back toward the nightmare he barely survived is incomprehensible. Terao points to a photograph showing Hiroshima before the atomic bombing and the house where he spent the first four years of his life. And yet, for a man who has survived an atomic bomb attack, the fact that the planet remains at risk of nuclear armaggedon is hard to live with. “I wonder If I’ll die without seeing a world without nuclear weapons,” he adds.

☆ The US spent $877 billion on military in 2022, a new report says — more than 10 times federal education spending
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-25 | by ( Peter Gelling | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

The US spent $877 billion in 2022, which accounts for almost 40 percent of all spending. By comparison, the US federal government allocated just $76.4 billion for education in 2022. "In 2022 the USA allocated $295 billion to military operations and maintenance, $264 billion to procurement and research and development, and $167 billion to military personnel," the report says. Total global military spending reached an all-time high in 2022, the report found. The report found that, in real terms, European military spending had returned to levels not seen since the Cold War.

☆ Ukraine war spurs record global spending on military, Stockholm think tank says
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-23 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

STOCKHOLM, April 24 (Reuters) - Global military spending rose to a record last year as Russia's war in Ukraine drove the biggest annual increase in expenditure in Europe since the end of the Cold War three decades ago, a leading conflict and armaments think tank said on Monday. World military expenditure rose by 3.7% in real terms in 2022 to $2.24 trillion, the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) said in a statement. "As a result, we can reasonably expect military expenditure in Central and Western Europe to keep rising in the years ahead." SIPRI estimated that military aid to Ukraine from the United States accounted for 2.3% of total U.S. military spending in 2022. Though the United States was the world's top spender by far its overall expenditure rose only marginally in real terms.

☆ High activity spotted at North Korea nuclear complex after Kim's bomb-fuel order, report says
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-01 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

The Washington-based 38 North North Korea monitoring project said the activity it had spotted, based on images from March 3 and 17, could indicate that an Experimental Light Water Reactor (ELWR) at the Yongbyon site was nearing completion and transition to operational status. On Tuesday, North Korea unveiled new, smaller nuclear warheads and vowed to produce more weapons-grade nuclear material to expand its arsenal, while denouncing stepped up military exercises by South Korea and the United States. Its state media said Kim had ordered the production of weapons-grade materials in a "far-sighted way" to boost the country's nuclear arsenal "exponentially." South Korea and the United States have warned since early 2022 that North Korea may resume nuclear testing at any time. In a report last year, the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) estimated North Korea had assembled up to 20 nuclear warheads, and probably possessed sufficient fissile material for approximately 45–55 nuclear devices.

☆ Russia cannot meet arms delivery commitments because of war, Indian Air Force says
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-23 | by ( Krishn Kaushik | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

NEW DELHI, March 23 (Reuters) - Russia is unable to deliver vital defence supplies it had committed to India's military because of the war in Ukraine, the Indian Air Force (IAF) says. An IAF representative told the panel Russia had planned a "major delivery" this year that will not take place. The biggest ongoing delivery is the S-400 Triumf air defence system units India bought in 2018 for $5.4 billion. IAF also depends on Russia for spares for its Su-30MKI and MiG-29 fighter jets, the mainstay of the service branch. Russia, and the Soviet Union before it, has been India’s main source of arms and defence equipment for decades.

An Insider review found that his company has sold to foreign governments, including a $228 million dollar contract. What Mills didn't advertise was Pacem's munitions contracts with foreign governments. The company's chief legal officer Joseph Schmitz said all of Pacem's foreign munitions sales are approved by the Department of State. Mills's influence over American military spending while having ties to a munitions company poses the potential for conflicts of interest, an ethics watchdog said. In Congress, Mills sits on the House Foreign Affairs and Armed Services committees, which oversee military spending and foreign weapons sales.

☆ European arms imports climb, U.S. dominance in exports grows, think tank says
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-12 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

REUTERS/Kacper Pempel/File PhotoSTOCKHOLM, March 13 (Reuters) - European states increased their imports of major weaponry by 47% in the five years to 2022, while the United States' share of global arms exports rose to 40% from 33%, a leading conflict think-tank said on Monday. European states in the U.S.-led NATO alliance increased their arms imports by 65% from the previous five-year period. The United States and Russia have been the world's largest and second-largest arms exporters for the past three decades. U.S. arms exports increased by 14% from 2013-17, and the U.S. accounted for 40% of global arms exports. "It is likely that the invasion of Ukraine will further limit Russia's arms exports," SIPRI's Siemon T. Wezeman said.

☆ World-class ships and new supersonic jets mark the quiet rise of a new defense industry powerhouse in Asia
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-10 | by ( Benjamin Brimelow | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +9 min

South Korea's defense industry has seen meteoric growth in recent years. 2023 is also shaping up to be a good year for South Korea's defense industry. South Korea's defense industry was originally tailored to meet the country's own needs, and Seoul assisted its growth with subsidies and other incentives. As South Korea's defense products increased in quality, so too did its exports. The South Korean defense industry's most anticipated product might be the KF-21 Boramae, a multi-role combat jet optimized for air-superiority missions.

☆ How deep are Egypt's economic troubles?
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-03 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +5 min

CAIRO, March 3 (Reuters) - Egypt's economy has come under severe pressure over the past year, with the Egyptian pound tumbling, foreign currency drying up, and inflation soaring. As many as 60% of Egypt's 104 million citizens are estimated to be below, or close to the poverty line. IS EGYPT'S DEBT SUSTAINABLE? Egypt's debt burden has been climbing, though analysts differ over how much of a risk this presents. Substantial principle and interest payments on foreign debt contribute to a large external financing gap - the difference between supply of and demand for foreign currency financing.

☆ Defence contractors target Australia as it gears up to counter China
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-02 | by ( Jamie Freed | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

The firms are pushing for billions of dollars' worth of purchases expected after Australia's long-awaited defence strategic review (DSR) is made public next month, setting out the force structure and equipment required over the next decade. The government's aim is to "speed up the acquisition cycle" and move as quickly as possible once the review is public, Defence Industry Minister Pat Conroy told reporters on Wednesday. Australia ranked 12th globally in military spending in 2021 at $31.8 billion, according to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute. Lockheed was selected last year alongside Raytheon Technologies Corp (RTX.N) to accelerate the manufacture and delivery of guided weapons to Australia. In-country assembly, and eventually manufacturing, are a focus of the project that aims to build local stockpiles, said Ken Kota, vice president of Lockheed's Australian defence strategic capabilities office.

That made Vietnam one of the top buyers of Russian arms, according to data from the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI), which tracks global military expenditures. Starting Thursday, the country will host its first large-scale international arms trade fair, for which more than 170 companies from 30 countries have registered, the defence ministry said. The Defence Ministry referred questions about the country's defence industry to the Foreign Ministry, which did not respond to requests for comment. A half-dozen Russian defence firms are registered for the Hanoi fair, including Rosoboronexport, the state agency that imports and exports weapons. That year, the COVID-19 pandemic reduced Vietnam's military imports to only $32 million, of which $9 million worth were Russian arms.

☆ Supply-Chain Issues Slow Global Arms Sales
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-06 | by ( Doug Cameron | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

The U.S. and its allies have sent billions of dollars of arms stocks such as shells to Ukraine. Supply-chain snarls are threatening to break a seven-year run of rising global arms sales, even with increasing demand from the war raging in Ukraine and simmering Taiwan-related tensions. Sales by the world’s 100 largest defense companies rose 1.9% last year to $592 billion, slowing from prepandemic levels and led by gains among suppliers in Europe and Asia, according to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, a think tank.

☆ China says U.S. nuclear weapons report is speculation
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-06 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

BEIJING, Dec 6 (Reuters) - China's defence ministry on Tuesday dismissed a Pentagon report about the pace of its nuclear weapons programme as unfair "gesticulation" and speculation. The Pentagon said in a report last month that China would likely have a stockpile of 1,500 nuclear warheads by 2035 if it continues with its current pace of its nuclear buildup. Responding to the report, China's defence ministry said the United States was "gesticulating and absurdly guessing about the modernisation of China's nuclear forces". The United States should reflect on its own nuclear policy, especially as it has the world's largest nuclear arsenal, the ministry added. The United States was "vigorously" developing and seeking to deploy front-line tactical nuclear weapons, had reduced the threshold for deploying nuclear weapons and was conducting nuclear proliferation through its security partnership with Britain and Australia, it said.

☆ An assassination, a feud and the fight for power in Iraq's Kurdistan
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-05 | by ( Amina Ismail | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +10 min

TENSE STANDOFFAfter Rasoul's death, the KDP-dominated Regional Security Council accused a PUK security agency of the killing. It detained six men it identified as operatives involved and issued arrest warrants for another four senior PUK security officials, according to security council statement a week after the attack. Long-simmering mistrust between the two sides had already deepened this year due to a wave of defections from PUK security agencies. The senior PUK official told Reuters there had been eight. "It could've easily turned ugly," the senior PUK official said.

WASHINGTON, Nov 29 (Reuters) - China will likely have a stockpile of 1,500 nuclear warheads by 2035 if it continues with its current nuclear buildup pace, according to a report released by the Pentagon on Tuesday. The figure underscores mounting U.S. concerns about China's intentions for its expanding nuclear arsenal, even though the projections do not suggest China is accelerating the pace of its already-brisk warhead development. The report, which primarily covers activities in 2021, said China currently has a nuclear stockpile of more than 400 warheads. The Pentagon's projection for China's nuclear arsenal of 1,000 warheads by 2030 remained unchanged, the official said, adding the projection for 2035 was based on an unchanged pace of expansion. The United States has a stockpile of about 3,700 nuclear warheads, of which roughly 1,740 were deployed, according to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) think-tank.

Allies have been supplying Kyiv with weapons and military equipment since Russia invaded its neighbour on Feb. 24, depleting their own inventories along the way. HISTORIC INDUSTRYEastern Europe's arms industry dates back to the 19th Century, when Czech Emil Skoda began manufacturing weapons for the Austro-Hungarian Empire. They said Ukraine had acquired weapons and equipment via donations from governments and direct commercial contracts between Kyiv and the manufacturers. "At the same time it's an opportunity for them to build up their military production industry." Czech arms exports this year will be the highest since 1989, he said, with many companies in the sector adding jobs and capacity.

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