Germany exports more arms than ever before in 2023

The German government set a new record for arms exports in 2023, according to official figures, authorizing sales worth at least €11.71 billion ($12.9 billion) mainly due to assistance sent to Ukraine.

The previous record was €9.35 billion, set in 2021. Compared to 2022, the increase this year was 40%, according to Economy Ministry figures provided in response to a parliamentary question and seen by dpa.

More than a third of the exports for 2023 went to Ukraine for its defence campaign against Russian invaders, totalling €4.15 billion.

In the first year of the war, German arms deliveries worth €2.24 billion were approved for Ukraine, including air defence systems and heavy artillery. This year, Leopard 2 main battle tanks were handed over after initial hesitation by the German government.

The figures relate to the period from January 1 to December 12, during which time Germany approved €6.15 billion of weapons and €5.57 billion of other military equipment across the world.

Almost 90% went to EU and NATO states, Ukraine and countries that are treated in a similar way to NATO states in terms of arms export controls - for example Japan, Australia and South Korea.

For so-called third countries such as Israel, the United Arab Emirates or Saudi Arabia, the German government greenlighted the sale of €1.18 billion of German-made weapons and other defence equipment.

The general outlay follows an about-face by Germany's centre-left governing coalition, which had intended to curb arms exports.

The U-turn was confirmed by Chancellor Olaf Scholz in February 2022, shortly after Russia's invasion of Ukraine. The new policy also meant that Germany dropped a self-imposed ban on arms deliveries to an ongoing conflict.

German lawmaker Ralf Stegner, a foreign policy expert in Scholz's own Social Democratic Party, has reiterated his call for a ban on deliveries to dictatorships.

"I believe that we would still be well advised not to supply weapons to crisis regions and dictatorships," he told dpa, saying however that Ukraine was an exception.

Israel received €323.2 million worth of arms exports from Germany this year - around 10 times as much as in the whole of 2022 at €32 million.

The majority of the more than 200 individual licences for Israel were issued following the Hamas terrorist attack on Israel on October 7, according to earlier information from the ministry. Components for air defence systems and communications equipment were the main exports.

Green Party leader Omid Nouripour, whose party is in the coalition government with Scholz's SPD and the Free Democrats (FDP), called for an agreement to be reached soon on a law to better control arms deliveries.

He told dpa that the record was "bad news, because it also says something about the state of the world."