All figures in this section come from SIPRI's computer-stored data base on major arms transfers. Major arms are defined as aircraft, missiles, armoured vehicles and heavy artillery, and warships. The statistics are based on the number of arms delivered per year. A survey of the international arms trade including arms trade registers by country is presented in the SIPRI Yearbook 1982, World Armaments and Disarmament, Taylor & Francis , London1982.
2.
For a full presentation of the yearly figures behind these various combinations, see aggregate tables in Appendix 6A, pp. 190-193 in the SIPRI Yearbook1982. Note that the statistics are based on the individual weapons delivered per year.
3.
Robin Luckham , IDS Bulletin, 8 (3), March 1977: ' Militarism: Arms and the intemationalisation of capital', p. 41.
4.
The restrictions on the production of arms in FR Germany, originally declared by the WEU, have been progressively lifted, in particular for warships .
5.
In principle, according to an estimate by SIPRI of 1971, as much as 95 per cent of the total arms trade is government-controlled; the remaining five percent being the responsibility of private arms dealers. However, they too operate with the permission of respective governments. The illegal arms trade takes up a share of those five per cent. This share can increase on the outbreak of armed conflict, which is when the black market gets its chance - as witnessed, for example, in connection with Argentina's current search for new arms.
6.
The subject will be treated in detail in SIPRI's ongoing study of the international arms trade, The Global Arms Trade .
