PARIS — European NATO countries reduced their reliance on the United States for weapons imports in the past year, funneling a greater share of their foreign defense acquisitions to South Korea, France and Israel, analysis by the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute showed.
The U.S. accounted for 58% of major arms imports by NATO’s European member states in the 2021-2025 period, according to a March 9 report by the Swedish think tank. That’s down from 64% for the five years through 2024, based on SIPRI’s year-earlier report.
Europe stepped up defense spending following Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine, prompting a more than threefold jump in the region’s arms imports. Now European leaders are looking to reduce their dependency on the U.S., as threats by President Donald Trump against allies and a policy shift towards American homeland defense have raised doubts whether the country is still a reliable ally.
“Threat perceptions concerning Russia, compounded by uncertainties over the USA’s commitment to defending its European allies, have boosted demand for arms among European member states,” SIPRI said in its report.
While European defense firms boosted production, and European Union investment support for the bloc’s domestic weapons industry led to a number of intra-EU orders, European nations continued to import U.S. arms in the past five years, especially combat aircraft and long-range air-defense systems, according to Katarina Djokic, a researcher with SIPRI’s Arms Transfers Programme.
Twelve European countries had a total of 466 F-35 fighter jets on order or preselected for order by the end of 2025, including 39 of the Lockheed Martin jets ordered or preselected for order last year.
South Korea was the next-biggest supplier to European NATO members, securing 8.6% of their arms imports in the most recent five-year period, from 6.5% reported last year. Israel accounted for 7.7% of European NATO imports, from 3.9% in the period through 2024. France increased its share to 7.4% from 6.5%.
Global weapons exports rose at the fastest pace in a decade as Europe more than tripled weapons imports in the face of a threatening Russia. The volume of major arms transferred between states rose 9.2% in 2021-2025 from the prior five-year period, the biggest increase since the 2011-2015 bracket, according to SIPRI..
‘Deliveries to Ukraine since 2022 are the most obvious factor, but most other European states have also started importing significantly more arms to shore up their military capabilities against a perceived growing threat from Russia,” said Mathew George, director of SIPRI’s Arms Transfers Programme.
Shipments of U.S. weapons to Europe rose 217% in 2021-2025 from the prior five-year period, according to SIPRI. That included arms for Ukraine, with the think tank counting weapons bought by other countries for transfer to the Ukrainian forces, including air-defense missiles and guided bombs, as U.S. exports to Ukraine.
The U.S. remained the world’s biggest arms exporter in 2021-2025, with a market share of 34%, ahead of France with 9.8%. Russia accounted for 6.8% of global weapons transfers between states, about a third of its share in the prior five-year period.
“For importers, U.S. arms offer advanced capabilities and a way of fostering good relations with the USA, while the USA views arms exports as a tool of foreign policy and a way of strengthening its arms industry,” said Pieter Wezeman, senior researcher with the SIPRI Arms Transfers Programme.
Germany overtook China to become the world’s fourth-biggest arms exporter in 2021-2025, with 24% of German exports going to Ukraine. Italy climbed to sixth place from 10th in the prior five-year period, with 59% of the country’s arms exports going to the Middle East.
The U.S. had outstanding orders for 936 combat aircraft by the end of 2025, followed by France with 180 or more aircraft, and China with 90 combat aircraft in its order book. Order data can give “a rough indication” of which countries will be the top exporters in coming years, SIPRI says.
The United Kingdom had 34 or more major warships on order, similar to Germany, according to SIPRI. Israel had at least 78 export orders for missile air-defense systems, Germany had at least 66 such systems on order, and the U.S. 55 or more, according to SIPRI.
Ukraine was the largest weapons importer in the 2021-2025 period, accounting for 9.7% of global arms imports, with the U.S. the source for 44% of Ukraine’s imports, followed by Germany with 14%. Arms transfers to Ukraine were “substantially lower” in 2025 than in the preceding two years as the U.S. reduced its military aid to the country, according to SIPRI.
India was the world’s second-biggest importer of arms, even if its share of global imports fell 4% in the period, based on the SIPRI data. Elsewhere in Asia, Pakistan’s imports of major arms rose 66% from the prior five years, while Japan lifted imports by 76% and Taiwan by 54%.
“Fears over China’s intentions and its growing military capabilities continue to influence armament efforts in other parts of Asia and Oceania, which often still depend on imported arms,” said Siemon Wezeman, senior researcher with the SIPRI Arms Transfers Programme.
“In South Asia, the high volume of arms that India imports is largely due to the perceived threat from China and to India’s long-running conflict with the main recipient of Chinese arms exports, Pakistan,” Siemon Wezeman said. “Imported weapons were used in the 2025 clash between India and Pakistan, both nuclear-armed states.”
In Africa, imports by Algeria fell by 78% in 2021-2025 from the prior period, while those by Morocco increased 12%, making the latter the continent’s largest arms importer.
Rudy Ruitenberg is a Europe correspondent for Defense News. He started his career at Bloomberg News and has experience reporting on technology, commodity markets and politics.
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