In "1994 Arms Transfers," a register of weapon deliveries by the Monterey Institute of International Studies, and the Stockholm International Peace Research Instiute, the world's top three importers in 1994 were Turkey, Greece and Saudi Arabia.
Most arms, according to the study, went to European recipients, followed by the Middle East and Asia
Despite concern among U.S. intelligence officials of a destabilizing military arms race between the two NATO member states, deliveries of tanks, armored vehicles and combat aircraft increased in 1994. A 1994 posture statement by the director of U.S. Naval Intelligence cautioned against the growing hostilities between Greece and Turkey."
Among the most worrisome situations developing in Europe, and the one most dangerous to NATO as an institution, is the growing animosity between Greece and Turkey," the Navy document states.
Ed Laurance of the Monterey Institute said much equipment transferred in 1994 consisted of secondhand weapons from countries ranging from the United States and Germany to Moldova and Bulgaria.
In an April 5 interview, Laurance said data for the study was collected from open sources and reflected categories of weapons adopted by the U.N. Register of Conventional Arms. He said the two organizations opted to focus on the number-of weapons transferred, rather than the dollar amount of the transaction.
However, a separate study pubiished in February by the U.S. Arms Control and Disarmament Agency (ACDA) records arms imports and exports by dollar value and shows Turkey and Greece ranking fifth and ninth, respectively, among world arms importers.
According to "World Military Expenditures and Arms Transfers 1993-1994," Turkey imported $975 million worth of arms in 1993, with Greece listed as importing $725 million in arms for the same year.
Based on a monetary ranking, Saudi Arabia led the world in arms imports for 1993 with $5.1 billion, followed by the United States, Egypt and Iran, which imported $1.4 billion, 1.1-billion and $1 billion, respectively."
The United States is ranked as the world's second largest importer because of the size of our defense budget. Although weapon imports represent a very small percentage of the U.S. defense budget, the dollar value is high enough to put us second on the charts behind Saudi Arabia," an ACDA official said April 4.
Both reports showed the United States as the world's leading arms supplier, with about $10.3 billion in goverrunent-to-government sales approved in 1993.
According to the ACDA report, world military spending continued to drop sharply in 1992 and 1993 from 1987 peak levels of $1.26 triilion to $868 billion in 1993. As in every year since the breakup of the former Soviet Union, the United States was the dominant arms supplier in 1993 with 47 percent of the worldwide arms market.
The ACDA study notes that the United States government sold $31 billion in weapons from 1991-1993, three quarters of which went to developing countries.
The Middle East continued to represent the world's largest arms market, with Europe and East Asia ranking second and third for regional markets.
Other regional market trends noted in the ACDA report show South Asia reducing its arms purchases from a 1989 peak of 9.4 billion to 1993 levels of $470 million. Like South Asia, African arms imports nave declined steadily since 1987. The report said all African nations purchased a total of less than $300 million in 1993.
Lora Lumpe, editor of the Arms Sales Monitor published by the Washington based Federation of American Scientists, said U.S. exports listed in the ACDA report do not include the tens of billions of dollars worth of commercial export licenses granted every year by the U.S. State Department. In an April 5 interview, Lumpe said the ACDA report understates the level of U.S. arms exports by as much as $25 billion.