The following chart shows the five largest arms exporters in 2005, along with their exports in 1995.* In 1995, top arms exporters included China in place of France.

Arms transfers includes major conventional weapons such as aircraft and armored vehicles. Not included are small arms and light weapons, trucks, small artillery, ammunition, support equipment, technology transfers, and other services. Small arms are not covered because of the lack of public data available. Data on arms transfers cover sales of weapons, manufacturing licenses, aid, and gifts, and are for actual transfers.

Source:  Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI).

*The SIPRI system for the valuation of arms transfers is designed as a trend-measuring device. It permits the measurement of changes in the total flow of major weapons and its geographical pattern. It does not represent a financial value and should not be compared to other types of economic data and statistics such as the gross domestic product or government spending.