arms trade
Selling military equipment
The arms trade is the business of buying and selling weapons, ammunition, and military equipment between countries, companies, or other parties.
It ranges from legal government-to-government sales of fighter jets and missiles to illicit trafficking of small arms to conflict zones.
The arms trade fuels wars across the developing world.
Arms dealers and defense contractors operate in this market, which generates hundreds of billions annually and attracts intense regulation—and frequent circumvention of that regulation.
- missilesSelf-propelled guided weapons
- firearmsWeapons using explosive propulsion
- ammunitionWeapon projectiles and charges
- export controlsRestrictions on foreign sales
- defense contractorsMilitary weapons manufacturers
conflict zones · licensing agreements · tanks · human rights violations · advocacy groups · economic sanctions · moral dilemmas · defense budgets · fighter jets · international treaties · smuggling networks · shadow economy · civilian casualties · military alliances · weapons · war crimes · exports · trafficking
- global issuesclimate change, water scarcity, inequality, pandemics, poverty
- arms tradegun runner, black market guns, weapons embargo, military exports, defense industries
- defense industrydefense contractors, defense spending, defense production, defense budget, defense technology
- war economieswar profiteering, war economy, war bonds, war debt, military spending
- harmful industriesbig tobacco, cigarettes, human trafficking, poaching, nuclear weapons
- trade historycommerce, merchant, colonial economy, merchant ships, Silk Road
arms tradehumanitarian aid
Crisis relief for sufferers
humanitarian assistance · disaster relief · medical aid · food aid · famine relief
arms tradedisarmament
Reducing or eliminating weapons
arms control · demilitarization · denuclearization · arms reduction · nuclear disarmament
trade, arms, trader, trading, traders, armory, trade-off, armament, disarmament