The key facts
- Saudi Arabia ranked third in major arms imports in 2021–2025, with 77% coming from the US.
- Ukraine became the world's largest recipient of major arms, receiving them largely as military aid.
- SIPRI's ranking measures volumes of deliveries, not monetary value or combat use.
Relying on data from the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI), the publication Naked Science wrote about the main partners of major arms exporters in an article.
The data shows two different approaches to arms deliveries. Major exporters such as the US cooperate with many countries. In some other states, a single recipient country accounts for the bulk of all exports.
Such differences may be linked to decades-long military cooperation, regional security threats, or the needs of ongoing armed conflicts.
In 2021–2025, Saudi Arabia ranked third in the world in imports of major weapons. 77 percent of the country's arms imports came from the US.
The military cooperation between the two countries spans several decades. American aircraft, air defense systems, and other modern weapons play an important role in strengthening Saudi Arabia's military capability, deterring regional threats, and protecting critical infrastructure.
However, not all international arms deliveries are commercial transactions. Weapons, especially during active combat operations, are also provided as military aid.
For example, in 2021–2025, Ukraine received major weapons from the US, Germany, Poland, and other countries, becoming the world's largest recipient.
The weapons delivered serve various purposes. Some replace equipment lost in battle and depleted stockpiles, while others are intended for modernizing the army, deterring potential attacks, or building reserves for future threats.
The SIPRI ranking assesses not the monetary value of weapons but the volume of major weapons delivered. Moreover, these indicators do not reflect whether the weapons were subsequently used in combat operations or not.
