Many Middle Eastern countries, especially the Arab countries in the Gulf, spend billions upon billions on defense and defense-related procurement. The United States and other NATO member states have a massive footprint in the Middle Eastern arms market. However, what must be addressed in greater detail is the growing presence that Middle Eastern countries have within the global arms market. Countries like Israel and the UAE have invested heavily in developing indigenous arms industries and even export weapons to countries outside of the Middle East. There are other major players in the Middle Eastern arms market, like Turkey and Iran. In this post, I will answer the following questions: How did the arms industries of these countries develop? What is the outlook for these countries' arms exports going forward?
Israel: King of the hill
To the surprise of absolutely no one, Israel is the biggest weapons exporter in the Middle East. In fact, Israel ranks 8th in global arms exports. As of 2024,
Europe was the Israeli arms industry's biggest market. Prior to this, India was Israel's number one customer. The ongoing war in Ukraine stimulated defense spending and production across Europe, and this proved to be a boon for the Israeli defense industry as well. The history of the Israeli arms industry actually dates back to the early 20th century, before the state of Israel was even established. In Mandatory Palestine, the Yishuv maintained underground weapons factories hidden from the British authorities. Due to the educational and wealth gap between the average Jew and the average Arab at the time, the Jews were able to maintain an indigenous arms production capability (however primitive it may have been). As a result of this educational and economic gulf, the Yishuv had a technological edge over its Arab adversaries.
Another factor that gave Israel an impetus to produce weapons locally was the precariousness of its arms supply from outside. For the first two decades of its existence, Israel's patron was France. The French provided weaponry like AMX-30 tanks and Mirage fighter jets to the Israelis, but relations between Paris and Tel Aviv had cooled after the French withdrawal from Algeria and the Six-Day War. The French even held missile boats that were due to be exported to Israel due to an embargo (which the Israelis ended up stealing from their port using special operations commandos). Prominent Israeli weapons include the iconic Uzi submachine gun and the Iron Dome air defense system. It is the latter that has generated major interest in foreign markets in recent years. Countries like the US, UK, Canada, and Finland have
purchased either complete Iron Dome systems or portions of Iron Dome technology.
Israel has sold weapons to countries like the Philippines and Azerbaijan, too. The Israelis were once on the cusp of selling early-warning radar systems to China before the US pressurized Israel into canceling the deal. Israeli firm Elbit Systems (producer of the famed Merkava tank) is one of the world's top-30 defense contractors according to SIPRI. Other noteworthy Israeli defense contractors in the top 100 include Israel Aerospace Industries and Rafael. The revenues of these defense firms have been trending upward. In 2024, annual Israeli arms sales reached a new record. According to figures from Israel's defense ministry, weapons sales in 2024 amounted to more than twice the value of weapons sales five years earlier. Interestingly, Arab countries like the UAE, Morocco, and Bahrain accounted for 12% of Israeli weapons exports. Although some European countries have either canceled procurement deals with Israel or sanctioned Israeli defense firms over Gaza, arms sales have continued to increase.
The UAE: Arabia's "Little Sparta"
The military of the United Arab Emirates is an anomaly in the Arab world in terms of combat capability and professionalism. In fact, the ruling al-Nahyan dynasty has invested large sums of money and resources into improving the capabilities of the UAE's armed forces and pursuing a more assertive security policy. One component of this is the Emirati defense conglomerate, EDGE. EDGE began as the Emirates Defense Industries Company in 2014. EDGE produces armored land vehicles, unmanned aerial vehicles, and electronic warfare systems (just to name a few products). Another prominent Emirati weapons export is the Caracal pistol. Caracal pistols are
in service with countries like Jordan and Bahrain.
The Emiratis have also exported military hardware to countries like Indonesia. In fact, the UAE is the world's 21st-largest weapons
exporter. Emirati defense contractors have worked with prominent American firms like Raytheon and Russian defense firms like VR-Technologies. Despite the presence of an emerging indigenous arms industry, the Emiratis are still heavily dependent upon American and European weapons systems. However, there is hope for the prospects of the UAE's military-industrial complex, as EDGE Group has worked with emerging countries like India and Brazil in co-producing weapons systems. The UAE has signed several
arms deals and military cooperation agreements in recent years, indicating that there could be further business opportunities for Emirati defense contractors.
Turkey: Another regional powerhouse
Turkey is second to Israel in terms of regional arms exports. Like Israel, Turkey built its own defense industry to reduce its dependence on foreign suppliers. Recently, Turkish defense contractors have been encountering success in European markets. In late 2024, Turkish firm STM signed an agreement with the Portuguese Navy to build fleet replenishment vessels. This agreement marked Turkey's first sale of a naval vessel to an EU or NATO member state. The majority of Turkish arms exports have gone to countries in the Balkans and Eastern Europe, like North Macedonia and Ukraine. In 2018, Qatar inked a deal to purchase Bayraktar TB2 drones from Ankara.
In 2024, Turkey inked a deal with Spain to collaborate in the production of jet trainer aircraft. Turkish drone maker Baykar acquired Italian firm Piaggio Aerospace in June 2025. The transformation of the European security environment after February 2022 has been a boon for Ankara as well. The Turkish also have the advantage of being integrated within the greater European security architecture, while also being far enough away from Europe geographically and politically to have the autonomy to cultivate working relationships with states like Russia and non-EU European states like Albania and North Macedonia.
Iran: Pariah state aiding other pariahs
Iran's defense sector is hampered by political isolation and strategic dependence on Russia and China (especially the former). The country's armed forces still largely use legacy American equipment, the spare parts for which are extremely difficult to come by. Due to its dependence on Russia and Russia's need for as much military hardware as it can throw at Ukraine, Iran has exported systems like drones (most notably, the Shahed-136) to the Russians. I must mention, however, that the Russians are producing a locally-made variant of the Shahed-136 (known as the Geran-2) in large quantities. The Russians are also able to acquire spare parts for these systems from China rather than Iran.
The Iranians have been doing their own
reverse engineering with Chinese-made platforms (either acquired legally before the strengthening of sanctions or through intermediaries or third countries). Iran has leaned on the strategy of reverse engineering weapons systems rather than creating indigenous platforms from scratch due to cost constraints and Tehran's political and economic isolation. During the confrontations with Israel in 2024 and 2025, Iran's stockpile of medium-range missiles and the cachet of Iranian and Russian weaponry sustained heavy blows. Iran is becoming a less important partner for Russia and China, though the Iranians still need Moscow and Beijing. Iranian arms exports are reported to trend downward in the future, due to declining demand from Russia and Israeli strikes on Iranian military infrastructure.
Conclusion
Four countries dominate the Middle Eastern arms market: Israel, Iran, Turkey, and the UAE. Except for the UAE, these countries have had to build their own arms industries out of necessity. These states have managed not only to supply their own militaries with indigenous weapons, but also to export military hardware to countries as far afield as Europe and North America. The global arms market is witnessing the rise of exporters from the Middle East at the expense of Russia and other established arms suppliers. With countries looking to wean themselves off Russian/Soviet weapons platforms, the arms exporters of the Middle East are well-positioned to take on a more substantial share of the world arms market.
Further Reading
2: Routledge Handbook on Israel's Foreign Relations by Joel Peters and Rob Geist Pinfold (PURCHASE IT HERE: https://amzn.to/3IRHqcH)
No comments:
Post a Comment