US arms sales hit record of $38bn in 2009

       US government-togovernment arms sales rose 4.7% to a record $38.1 billion this year, and are expected to total almost as much in 2010, the Pentagon agency that administers them said on Friday.
       Arms deals, often sensitive because of regional politics, may become even more so for the administration of President Barack Obama, who won the 2009 Nobel Peace Prize last month.
       Some critics say Mr Obama should rein in arms transfers, partly to avoid regional arms races. But overseas sales are increasingly important to US contractors seeking to offset Pentagon belttightening at home.
       Many if not most of the sales pacts signed in fiscal 2009, which ended on Sept 30, are part of a boom in conventional weapons sales that started under former president George W. Bush.
       The 2009 figures represent over a quadrupling from a sales low point in fiscal 1998, according to Vice Admiral Jeffrey Wieringa, head of the Defence Security Cooperation Agency.
       The sales are indicative of a drive to strengthen US partners and thus boost US national security, Vice Adm Wieringa said in an Oct 22 blog posting on his agencys website.
       The 2009 tally, revised after that posting, was up from $36.4 billion in fiscal 2008 and $23.3 billion in 2007, said the security agency. It administers the Pentagons Foreign Military Sales Programme, a key part of US alliancebuilding.
       Sales are expected to top $37.9 billion in fiscal 2010, which began on Oct 1,Vanessa Murray, an agency spokeswoman, said in a written reply to Reuters.
       The top buyers in fiscal 2009 were United Arab Emirates ($7.9 billion),Afghanistan ($5.4 billion) and Saudi Arabia ($3.3 billion), followed by Taiwan ($3.2 billion), Egypt ($2.1 billion), Iraq ($1.6 billion), Nato ($924.5 million), Australia ($818.7 million) and South Korea ($716.6 million).
       Rachel Stohl, co-author of a new book,The International Arms Trade , said Mr Obama, who took office on Jan 20, seems to be sticking with the Bush administration mantra of sell, sell, sell, rather than a more cautious approach.
       William Hartung of the New America Foundation,aWashington-based research group focused on US defence and foreign policy issues, said Mr Obama should pay more attention to regional arms-race dangers, human-rights records and shun sales to countries that can illafford them.
       Top US arms makers such as Lockheed Martin Corp, Boeing Co, Northrop Grumman Corp, General Dynamics Corp and Raytheon Co are hoping to boost foreign sales to hedge against US budget pressures that could slow big-ticket Pentagon arms purchases.
       Overseas sales lower the unit price of US armed forces weapons and keep components available that would be otherwise hard to find, said Remy Nathan of the Aerospace Industries Association,which lobbies on behalf of US arms makers.
       Demand is booming, fed in part by regional tensions fanned by nuclear and ballistic missile programmes in Iran and North Korea.
       In September, for instance, the Pentagon told Congress of a possible sale to Turkey of the most modern model of its Patriot anti-missile missile in a package valued at up to $7.8 billion.
       The Gulf states and Saudi Arabia are extremely worried about Irans pursuit of a nuclear weapons capability,Alexander Vershbow, US assistant secretary of defence for international security affairs, said last month.They want to buy Patriots or other systems over the coming years. So right now,demand exceeds supply because of the real sense of threat they feel, he said.
       Other big sales could come from the best market in decades for fighter aircraft,with multi-billion-dollar competitions under way or planned in India, Brazil, South Korea, Japan, Greece and elsewhere, said Richard Aboulafia of the Teal Group, an aerospace consultancy.