Ethics, Scientists, Engineers and the Military - Ethical Engineering for International Development and Environmental Sustainability - page 336

in Europe. It entered into force in 1992 and was modifi ed to take account of the
states emerging which replaced the Soviet Union. It had 30 parties, but Russia
suspended participation in 2011. It sets limits on battle tanks, armoured combat
vehicles, artillery of at least 100 mm, combat aircraft and attack helicopters in an
area from the Atlantic to the Urals.

5 The Arms Trade

The arms trade is still signifi cant, though cuts in military expenditure as part of
austerity measures in many of the richer countries are having an impact. In addition,
disagreements on how to reduce the US budget defi cit and the (planned) withdrawals
from Iraq and Afghanistan are causing some uncertainty. The SIPRI Top 100 lists
the 100 largest arms producers and military services companies, excluding those in
China (based on their sales). Their sales totalled $410 billion in 2011, a decrease of
5% in real terms from 2010, but a massive 51% increase from 2002. The list of
companies also changed slightly, the sales of the company at the bottom of the list
more than doubled, whereas the percentage of sales of the top 10 reduced from 60%
in 2002 to 54% in 2011 (Jackson 2013 ). A number of factors have caused this
decrease in sales, including the withdrawal from Iraq, postponements due to
austerity measures and military spending cuts. Other factors include the United
Nations embargo on sending arms to Libya and the weakness of the US dollar in
many countries. Seven of the ten largest arms companies in 2011 were based in the
USA and one each in the UK, Italy and involving several European countries (SIPRI
2013 ). India and several countries in the Middle East have large arms procurement
projects, leading to them being targeted by West European and North American
arms companies (Jackson 2012a ).
International arms transfers increased by 17% from 2003-2007 to 2008-2012
(Holtom et al. 2013 ). The fi ve largest suppliers, USA, Russia, Germany, France and
China, accounted for three quarters of exports of major weapons in 2007-2011,
reduced slightly from 78% in 2002-2006 (Holtom 2013 ). China and Spain have
also become signifi cant suppliers. China is continuing to reduce its signifi cance as
a recipient (Holtom et al. 2012 ), possibly because it is now increasingly able to
produce its own weapons. It is in the fi ve largest arms traders for the fi rst time since
the Cold War, having displaced the UK, which has been in this group since 1950
(Holtom 2013 ). The USA is still the largest arms supplier, accounting for 30% of
transfers of major conventional weapons in 2008-2012 (Holtom et al. 2013 ).
Changes in political alliances mean that armaments have been used against the
forces of the country that sold them on a number of occasions. For instance, before
the Falklands/Malvinas confl ict, more than £180 million of British arms were sold
to Argentina, including an aircraft carrier, destroyers, ship-to-air and surface-to-air
missiles, armoured cars and sub-machine guns. Many of the 255 British servicemen
who died in the Falklands/Malvinas were killed by British weapons (Evans et al.
1991 ). Changes in alliances can happen very quickly. For instance, during the Gulf