$1.7TN SPENT ON GLOBAL DEFENCE

Conflicts in Ukraine and Middle East drive first increase in years,

Global military spending last year rose to nearly US$ 1.7 trillion (Dh6.2tn), the first increase in several years, driven by conflicts including the battle against ISIL, the war in Yemen and fears about Iran.

The study by the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (Sipri) said Chinese expansion in the South China Sea and Russia’s annexation of Crimea and support of Ukrainian separatists also contributed to the 1 per cent growth in spending, compared with 2014. For weapons manufacturers, the non- stop pace of air strikes targeting ISIL fighters in Iraq and Syria, as well as the Arab coalition’s campaign to restore Yemen’s internationally recognised government, meant billions of dollars more in sales.

The United States, with $596 billion in defence spending, and China, with an estimated $215bn, led all countries last year, the annual report by Sipri said.

Saudi Arabia, however, came third with spending of $87.2bn – double what it spent in 2006, according to the report. That fuelled the first worldwide increase in military spending since 2011.

Iraq spent $13.1bn on its military last year, which is a more than 500 per cent increase from 2006, as it rebuilt its armed forces following the US pullout and rise of ISIL, Sipri said.

While part of the US coalition fighting the extremists, Saudi Arabia also launched a war in Yemen in March last year to defeat Houthi rebels and their allies, which overran the country’s capital, Sanaa. Companies that may grow sales this year include Boeing, General Dynamics, Lockheed Martin and Raytheon, said aerospace and defence analyst Roman Schweizer, at Guggenheim Securities, last week.

“We have been bullish for the better part of a year that the Pentagon and its European and [Arabian Gulf] allies will have to refill their stocks of missiles and munitions due to the current campaign against ISIL in Iraq, Syria, Yemen and even Libya,” Mr Schweizer said. Meanwhile, Barack Obama promised America’s “ironclad commitment” to back its Gulf allies during a summit last May. In the time since, the US has made $33bn in arms sales to GCC countries, including an $11.25bn deal with Saudi Arabia that includes four armed warships to modernise its navy, said David McKeeby, state department spokesman. But the Obama administration has been criticised by Senator John McCain for “failing to live to up the promises” made at the summit by allegedly stalling the sale of fighter jets to Qatar and Kuwait. Qatar in the meantime has signed a deal for €6.7bn (Dh28bn) to buy 24 Dassault Rafale fighter jets from France.

Mr Obama will visit Saudi Arabia on April 21 for a meeting of the GCC. The jet sales will probably be a topic of discussion, as will Iran after its recently implemented nuclear deal.