"War is good for business," one defense executive
attending the biennial Defense and Security Equipment International (DSEI)
conference at ExCel London flat-out told Reuters. "We are extremely
busy," Michael Elmore, head of sales at the UK-based armored steelmaker
MTL Advanced, told the media agency.
Russia's ongoing invasion of Ukraine and the West's scramble
to arm Ukrainian homeland defenders have been a bonanza for
arms-makers.
"Ukraine is a very interesting combination of First and
Second World War technologies and very modern technology," Kuldar Vaarsi,
CEO of the Estonian unmanned ground vehicle firm MILREM, told Reuters.
Saber-rattling and fearmongering by government, media, and
business figures amid rising tensions between the US and its allies on one
side, and a fast-rising China on the other, have also spurred military
spending, including Japan's US$320 billion buildup announced last
December.
"We think this is a longer-term essentially 'sea
change' in national defense strategy for the U.S. and for our Western
allies," Jim Taiclet, CEO of US arms giant Lockheed Martin, told
investors during a call earlier this summer announcing
higher-than-expected sales and profit outlooks.
According to the Stockholm International Peace Research
Institute, the United States, Russia, France, China, and Germany were the
world's top arms exporters from 2018-22, with the five nations accounting for
76% of all weapons exports during that period. The U.S. accounted for nearly
40% of such exports during those five years, while increasing its dominance in
the arms trade. The US also remains by far the world's biggest military
spender.
In addition to major corporations, middlemen like Marc
Morales have also been profiting handsomely from wars in countries
including Ukraine. Morales happened to have a warehouse full of ammunition in
Bulgaria that the Pentagon originally intended for Afghanistan when Russia
invaded its neighbor, and he has been richly rewarded as the US spends tens
of billions of dollars arming Ukrainian forces. He named his new US$10 million
yacht Trigger Happy.
Outside the sprawling ExCel convention center in London's
Docklands, anti-war protesters rallied against the global arms trade and the
death and destruction it fuels. The Guardian reported that at least a
dozen demonstrators were arrested during the course of the conference,
including nine on Thursday for blocking a road outside the venue.
Sam Perlo-Freeman, a researcher at the Campaign Against Arms
Trade (CAAT), told The Guardian that a lot of countries that are
being talked about as new arms export markets are ones we would be concerned
about.
"Egypt is a repressive regime and Vietnam an absolute
dictatorship," Perlo-Freeman added. "Indonesia is involved in
brutality in West Papua."
Emily Apple, also of CAAT, told People's World that
the companies exhibiting read as who is who of the world's worst arms dealers.
"Israel
is an apartheid state, and it is disgusting that the UK is not only selling
weapons to Israel but encouraging Israeli arms companies to sell their weapons
in London," she continued.
"Representatives from regimes such as Saudi Arabia, who
have used UK made weapons to commit war crimes in Yemen, will be wined and
dined and encouraged to buy yet more arms."
"Deals
done at DSEI will cause misery across the world, causing global instability,
and devastate people's lives," Apple added.
Inside ExCel, it was business as usual. Pressed by
Declassified UK chief reporter Phil Miller on why Britain's right-wing
government supports selling arms to the Saudi dictatorship that sentences
someone to death for tweeting, Minister of State for the Armed Forces James
Heappey deflected.
Private sector leaders, however, have been more forthcoming.
As Raytheon CEO Greg Hayes opined during a 2021 investor call touting the
company's solid growth, "Peace is not going to break out in the Middle
East anytime soon."
