The Federal Government’s policy on defence exports in 2023

According to provisional figures, individual licences were issued for the final export of military equipment worth approx. €12.2 billion in 2023. This figure consists of €6.4 billion for war weapons and €5.8 billion for other military equipment. The main country of destination is Ukraine: exports of military equipment worth around €4.4 billion were approved for it. This means that, as in 2022, Ukraine was once again the “third country”¹ with the highest licence value – and was in fact the country with the highest licence value overall.

Says State Secretary Sven Giegold: “The record new figures for licences for exports of military equipment in 2023 are a direct consequence of the security policy challenges of our time. Ukraine accounted for more than a third of the value of all individual licences for the export of military equipment. The ongoing German support for Ukraine as it defends itself against the illegal Russian war of aggression serves to secure the global peace order. Norway was the country with the second-highest licence figure; this figure alone corresponds to almost the entire value of licences for other third countries (excluding Ukraine, the Republic of Korea and Singapore). This shows that the Federal Government is sticking to its restrictive policy on decisions about exports of military equipment, with the question of human rights being of particular importance for all decisions on such exports. The record level of demand for German military equipment from our democratic partner countries is an expression of a growing need for military security, primarily as a response to Russia’s aggression.”

In detail

Of the total amount of individual licences issued for the final export of military equipment, €10.84 billion and thus around 89% consists of licences for exports to EU, NATO and NATO-equivalent countries², the Republic of Korea and Singapore, and for exports to support Ukraine in its self-defence against the illegal Russian war of aggression, whilst around 11% of the total value of licences (€1.36 billion) was issued for other third countries.

For Ukraine, the main recipient of German export licences for military equipment, licences worth approx. €4.44 billion were issued in 2023 (compared to €2.25 million in 2022). The Federal Government has published further information about the support provided to Ukraine here.

A total of approx. €6.07 billion was accounted for by licences for deliveries to EU/NATO and NATO-equivalent countries (of which €3 billion was for war weapons and €3.07 billion for other military equipment). Of this, approx. €1.2 billion was spent on equipping the Norwegian and around €1.03 billion on equipping the Hungarian armed forces. Alongside Ukraine, the Republic of Korea and Singapore, €1.36 billion worth of licences was issued for other third countries.

Also, the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Action took steps in 2023 via the Federal Office for Economic Affairs and Export Control to significantly speed up the administrative processes in the field of export controls, in two packages (see press releases for package 1 and package 2). As a result, a large proportion of the deliveries of military equipment to EU, certain NATO and NATO-equivalent countries and close partner countries have been issued on the basis of “General Authorisations” since 1 September. The value of these deliveries is still being ascertained via retrospective reporting, and this will increase the proportion of the value of licences for these countries accordingly. Conversely, the final share of other third countries in the total licence value for the year will be even smaller.

The following ten countries had the highest individual export licence values for military equipment in the period 1 January to 31 December 2023:

According to preliminary figures, the total value of licences for small arms and small arms parts amounted to €97 million in 2023 (2022: €86.1 million). A total of €87 million of these exports (around 90%) 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. Of the remaining value for third countries (€9.6 million), 81% was for licences for the Republic of Korea and Ukraine.

The licence value for third countries including Ukraine, the Republic of Korea and Singapore amounted to around €6.13 billion (of which €3.4 billion was for war weapons and €2.7 billion for other military equipment).

In the group of third countries, support for Ukraine’s self-defence against the illegal Russian war of aggression accounted for the bulk of the licences issued (€4.44 billion or 72% of the value for third countries). Roughly €4.78 billion, or around 78% of licences issued for third countries, were for the Republic of Korea, Singapore and Ukraine.

The figure for third countries 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) worth €4.99 billion (of which €3.25 billion was for war weapons and €1.74 billion for other military equipment). In the case of developing countries, all of which are third countries, the support afforded to Ukraine accounts for much of the total value of licences. Around 88.8% of the licences for developing countries were for Ukraine.

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¹ Third countries are all countries which are not members of the EU or NATO. Japan, Switzerland, Australia and New Zealand are regarded as NATO-equivalent countries, i.e. not as third countries in this context.
² Japan, Switzerland, Australia, New Zealand