Arms trade is one of the main sources of income for many countries of the world. There are several analytical centers around the world that are professionally engaged in the study of the large-scale arms trade. The most respected and trusted centers are the US Library of Congress Research Service (CRS) and the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI). In addition, Janes Sentinel Security Assessment, London Institute for International Strategic Studies, Forcast International, Military Balance present their final reports on the market as a whole, a forecast of its further development, as well as an analysis of the current situation in certain categories of supplied weapons. and other think tanks.
It should be noted that the universal starting material for analysis is the information from the UN Register, where countries voluntarily submit current data on arms exports. However, the number of states that provide such information is small, and the data provided are often very far from reality. This explains the need for a more thorough study and analysis of the global arms trade.
Russia remained the only state that was one of the main players in the arms market, but did not have its own analytical center. Only in 2010, the Center for the Analysis of the World Arms Trade Market (TSAMTO) was formed in Moscow. The main activity of the center is the study of the world arms trade.
Russia was forced to create its own analytical center. First of all, this is one of the ways to destroy the myths about the country that arise from the often biased and false information provided by Western think tanks. In addition, every global statistical report provided by a generally recognized world center, of course, contains a powerful element of information struggle for a sphere of influence in one or another regional market, in the markets of different countries, in one or another segment of weapons. It is from this point of view that Russia, until 2010, completely lost to the Western states in the "information support" of cooperation in the military-technical aspect.
The presented report, judging by the information available in it, was prepared on the basis of a complete and reliable analysis. Analysts managed to systematize all the information available to date that is available for public inspection.
The report contains the most extensive information on the trade in armored vehicles. According to the data, Russia has sold more than 1,000 T-90S tanks to India alone, and a licensing agreement has been signed with this country for the assembly of 4,000 more combat vehicles. Russia supplies T-90S tanks to African countries. In particular, several hundred combat vehicles were sold to Algeria. The tanks are also sold by the neighboring states of Belarus and Ukraine. Ukraine was the most successful in this, which was able to sell 4 of its T-80UD tanks to the United States, not to mention other contracts.
In the analysis made by TSAMTO, the global arms market is considered separately by importer and exporter in terms of combined value. In addition, the analysis of the market for individual categories of weapons was carried out separately in two aspects - the amount of equipment supplied and the cost of the supplied volumes.
The CAMTO Annual Report provides statistics on the international arms trade for the period 2002-2009. An 8-year cycle is taken as the base time step for the calculation. This period is the most optimal, taking into account the frequency of weapons renewal and the implementation of various major programs for the modernization of weapons. The published report contains 1250 pages, which contains 300 charts and 750 tables.
The report is easy to read and provides the most in-depth and reliable analysis of the arms trade.
