Licences for the export of military equipment in the first half of 2022: 92% of licences are for close partners – €562 million to support Ukraine

According to preliminary figures for the first half of 2022, individual licences worth €4.14 billion were issued for the export of military equipment (of which €2.54 billion was for war weapons and €1.6 billion for other military equipment). The equivalent figure for 2021 was €2.3 billion. A large proportion of the overall figure of €4.14 billion, i.e. approx. €1.78 billion, is due to a large-scale multi-year procurement project from the Netherlands. Germany’s support for Ukraine in response to the illegal Russian war of aggression is also reflected in the figures for the first half of the year, with licences totalling around €562 million being issued to support Ukraine’s self-defence.

Approx. €3.81 billion was accounted for by licences for deliveries to EU/NATO and NATO-equivalent countries along with Ukraine and South Korea (of which €3.13 billion for EU/NATO and NATO-equivalent countries, consisting of €2.17 billion for war weapons and €957 million for other military equipment). The licences for EU/NATO and NATO-equivalent countries plus Ukraine and South Korea thus account for around 92% of the value of all the individual export licences issued. Licences worth around €337 million were issued for other third countries¹ apart from Ukraine and South Korea.

The Federal Government has published further information about the support provided to Ukraine here.

Based on the coalition agreement, the Federal Government is currently drafting a military equipment control act under the leadership of the Economic Affairs Ministry. For the first time in German history, the Act is intended to explicitly enshrine the Federal Government's military equipment export control in law. Expert meetings on this subject were held in the spring with representatives of civil society, commerce and academia. Work is currently taking place on the key principles for this legislation. Further information can be found here.

More detailed information:
In the first half of 2022, these ten countries ranked highest in terms of the approved individual export volumes:

According to preliminary figures, the total value of the licences for small arms and parts for small arms in the first half of 2022 amounted to €71.5 million (2021: €22.4 million). €70.6 million of these exports (99%) went to EU/NATO and NATO-equivalent countries. This means that almost all the licensed exports of small arms and small arms parts were destined for a privileged group of EU and NATO partners.

___

¹ Third countries including Ukraine and South Korea: €1.02 billion, consisting of: €364 million in war weapons and €652 million in other military equipment. This figure includes export licences for developing countries (developing countries and developing territories pursuant to the list of the OECD’s Development Assistance Committee, excluding upper middle income countries (column four of said list)) of €577 million (consisting of €358 million in war weapons and €219 million in other military equipment, most of which was destined for Ukraine, which is also covered by this category).