Russia, France overtake US as top arms sellers

The annual report by the Congressional Research Service showed the US share in the total value of all arms transfer agreements concluded in 2005 dropped to 20.5 percent from 35.4 percent the year before.

In monetary terms, the value of these deals concluded by the United States fell from 9.4 billion dollars in 2004 to about 6.2 billion in 2005.

By contrast, Russia made last year seven billion dollars worth of such deals in Asia, Africa and Latin America, a notable increase from 5.4 billion dollars in 2004, which propelled Russia to the position of the top arms supplier to the developing world, the report said.

France rose to second place, inking last year 6.3 billion dollars worth of delivery of military hardware, up from just one billion dollars in agreements in 2004.

France's success, the study said, was attributable to a 3.5-billion-dollar agreement with India for the sale of six Scorpene diesel attack submarines.

US congressional experts also predicted that an aggressive sales pitch by Paris could eventually collide with key interests of the United States and its allies as France usually pursued its national interests rather than Nato alliance considerations.

"So the potential exists for policy differences between the United States and major West European supplying states over conventional weapons transfers to specific countries," warned Richard Grimmett, the main author of the report.