UK Publishes Defence Export Statistics

A Hawk T1 being used for Red Arrows training. Over 900 Hawks have been sold to operators around the world. Photo: Tim Felce

This week, the government published statistics from 2019 for UK defence and security exports. This is the 7th year in which official statistics have been released by the Department for International Trade.

The main takeaway from the report is that on a rolling 10 year basis, the UK remains the second largest exporter of defence and security products, with the United States in first position.

In 2019, the UK won £11bn in defence orders, compared to £14bn in the previous year, although DIT say this is in the context of "the volatile nature of the global export market for defence."

The report also says thats the UK's share of global defence exports in 2019 was an estimated 16%, with the country's largest export markets in the Middle East, Europe and North America.

The statistics also show that the UK's security export sales grew in 2019 to £7.2bn, a rise from the previous year's sales of £5.2bn. The increase in sales has lifted the UK to the third largest exporter of security products and services, up from fourth in 2018.

For full information from the 2019 Defence and Security Export Statistics, go to www.gov.uk/government/publications/uk-defence-and-security-export-statistics-for-2019/uk-defence-and-security-export-statistics-for-2019

>> MORE NEWS