This article**[CCTV News Client];
The United States announced on January 29 local time that the total amount of U.S. foreign arms sales in fiscal year 2023 increased by 16% over fiscal year 2022 to $238 billion, a record high. Behind the continuous increase in US arms sales to foreign countries is that the United States has continued to make war profits by instigating conflicts, seriously undermining world peace and stability.
Direct arms sales by U.S. companies rose from $153.6 billion in fiscal 2022 to $157.5 billion in fiscal 2023, up 2.5 billion year-on-year, according to U.S. data5%；Arms sales arranged through the United States** rose by a whopping 55.5 billion from $51.9 billion in fiscal year 2022 to $80.9 billion in fiscal year 20239%。
Russia's invasion of Ukraine has driven a surge in U.S. arms sales in fiscal year 2023.
Among them, the conflict between Russia and Ukraine has led to a number of huge US arms sales orders. According to information from the United States, the United States approved exports in fiscal year 2023 include $10 billion worth of "HIMARS" rocket and artillery systems sold to Poland, $2.9 billion worth of advanced air-to-air missiles (AMRAAM) sold to Germany, and $1.2 billion worth of "National Advanced Surface-to-Air Missiles" to Ukraine**. As recently as January 30, Pentagon spokesman Patrick Ryder also confirmed that Ukraine would receive an advanced missile system called a "land-launched small-diameter bomb" from the United States.
In fact, since 2022, the US Congress has provided four rounds of so-called "aid to Ukraine" totaling more than $113 billion.
The so-called "aid to Ukraine" of the United States is divided into four major parts: first, direct military aid, accounting for more than 50% of the aid funds to Ukraine; second, non-military assistance, including humanitarian assistance; The third is economic support for Ukraine**, which is used to make up for economic losses during the war in Ukraine. The fourth is the "war-related funds" provided to the United States' ** departments.
Mark Concien, Senior Adviser, Center for Strategic and International Studies: If you count all the numbers, the United States has provided 60 billion in direct military support.
Direct military aid funds usually flow back into the hands of US industrial enterprises, and the 60 billion yuan alone accounts for 53% of the total 113 billion yuan.
Mark Concien, Senior Adviser to the Center for Strategic and International Studies: "Aid to Ukraine" is inappropriate, because the term implies that all the money was given to Ukraine. But in reality, nearly 60% of this money is spent on the United States itself.
90% of the funds were spent in the United States The US Secretary of State told the truth about "aiding Ukraine."
In December last year, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken revealed the truth about the so-called "aid to Ukraine".
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken: Ninety percent of our military aid to Ukraine is actually going to the U.S. mainland, spending on our manufacturing and manufacturing industries, creating more jobs for Americans and boosting our own economic growth.
Using Ukraine to consume Russia, while local factories in the United States can also get ** orders, this is the real logic of the so-called "aid to Ukraine".
US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin: During this ** period, the production of artillery shells in the United States will not only increase, not just double, but quadruple. At the same time, we launched what the Army calls the most ambitious modernization of the defense industrial base in nearly 40 years.
Dozens of states have benefited from US "aid" to Ukraine and turned it into "big business."
In November last year, the United States** also circulated to members of Congress a map of the distribution of "recipient states of military aid to Ukraine", detailing for the first time how about $27 billion in military aid to Ukraine has been converted into investment in the military industry in dozens of states. The distribution map is mainly divided into two parts, namely "economic benefits brought by military aid to Ukraine" and "direct investment in military industrial bases". According to the distribution map, after the two parts were superimposed, Pennsylvania benefited the most, with 23$600 million; Texas got 14$500 million in arms orders; Arizona received 21$9.6 billion in arms orders, and a total of $18 billion in orders from military companies in at least 25 states.
Michael O'Hanlon, senior fellow at the Brookings Institution, a U.S. think tank: War is good business for the U.S. economy. I wouldn't deny that conflict does benefit some American companies, and that's the truth.