Third World Arms Industries

Report Outline
Special Focus

Overview

In the Middle East. Iraq is using armored personnel carriers that were made in Brazil to battle Iranian troops. South African security forces shoulder Israeli-licensed Uzi machine guns in their fight against black nationalist guerrillas. In Nicaragua, the “contra” rebels use South Korean-made M-16 rifles to fight Sandinista government forces. In the 1982 Falklands War, Argentina put Israeli missileloaded patrol boats to sea against British naval forces. Anti-communist rebels in Afghanistan are firing Chinese-made surface-to-air missiles against Soviet warplanes.

As these instances suggest, the big powers no longer have a monopoly on global arms sales. Since 1973, the Third World's share of world arms exports has risen from 2.3 percent to 15 percent, according to a forthcoming report by the U.S. Arms Control and Disarmament Agency (ACDA). At the same time, the U.S. share has fallen from about 40 percent to about a fourth, and the Soviet Union's from about 40 percent to about 30 percent.

Some of the new arms-exporting nations have found weapons to be their most profitable products. Today, more than 60 Third World nations produce and export weapons, ranging from the sophisticated tanks and aircraft of Brazil and Israel to the light guns and ammunition of South Korea. Chile and Pakistan. However, most of the new arms for export are such traditional weapons as mortars and rifles. About half of these weapons—whether traditional or high-tech—are shipped to the Middle East, where they are being used in the Iran-Iraq War and elsewhere. The rest are being shipped to nations all over the globe.