December 14, 2007: Israel has displaced Britain as the fourth largest exporter of weapons on the world market. Israel exported over $4 billion worth of weapons this year. The U.S. is biggest customer for Israeli military gear, accounting for nearly 20 percent of Israeli exports. Such sales have been increasing year by year. The latest buy includes things like Lightning targeting pods, high tech helmets for fighter pilots (Israel supplied most of the technology for the new U.S. JHMCS helmets), and numerous other bits of military components and technology. While Israel buys a lot of American weapons (mainly major systems, like jet fighters, that tiny Israel cannot afford to build), Israel has developed a lot of unique, and combat proven weapons and military technology. A lot of this stuff used American weapons as a starting point, then improved on that.

The U.S. accounts for about a third of arms exports. Thus three nations, the U.S., Russia and Israel, supply about half the worlds arms exports (currently nearly $50 billion a year). Russia has also been growing rapidly as an arms exporter, with several other European nations (France, Britain, Spain, Italy) hustling move their weapons on the world market. China is another growing supplier, as is South Korea.