U.S. arms exports up 49% in fiscal 2022

By Mike Stone

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -Sales of U.S. military equipment to foreign governments rose 49% to $205.6 billion in the latest fiscal year, the U.S. State Department said on Wednesday.

Sales approved in the year included $13.9 billion worth of F-15ID fighter jets to Indonesia, $6.9 billion worth of Multi-Mission Surface Combatant ships to Greece, and $6 billion worth of M1A2 Abrams tanks to Poland.

General Dynamics Corp makes the Abrams tank, Boeing makes the F-15 jet and Lockheed Martin Corp makes the ships.

There are two major ways foreign governments purchase arms from U.S. companies: direct commercial sales negotiated between a government and a company, and foreign military sales in which a foreign government typically contacts a Defense Department official at the U.S. embassy in its capital. Both require U.S. government approval.

The direct military sales by U.S. companies rose 48.6% to $153.7 billion in fiscal 2022 from $103 billion in fiscal 2021, while sales arranged through the U.S. government rose 49.1% to $51.9 billion in 2022 from $34.8 billion the prior year, the State Department said.

Sales of U.S. military equipment in the prior fiscal year totaled $138 billion.

(Reporting by Mike Stone in Washington; editing by Jonathan Oatis)