UK arms exports: Statistics

This page is a short summary of the full PDF report UK arms exports: Statistics

The UK Government does not publish exact figures on defence exports (commonly referred to as ‘arms exports’). There is also no internationally agreed definition of defence exports or how they should best be measured.

Instead, data is published on:

• orders for defence items won by UK companies
• export licences issued by the UK Government

This data is published by the International Collaboration and Exports (ICE) team within the Ministry of Defence and the Export Control Joint Unit (ECJU) within the Department for Business and Trade.

A useful source of global data is the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute’s (SIPRI) arms transfers database. This catalogues sales of major conventional weapons since 1950 and is widely considered to be an authoritative source of data on international arms transfers.

Orders won by UK companies

The UK won defence orders worth an estimated £13.2 billion in 2024. This was a 7% real-terms increase on 2023.

UK defence exports are dominated by its aerospace sector. The aerospace sector accounted for 53% of the total value of UK defence exports over the five-year period from 2020 to 2024.

Europe was the largest market for UK defence exports, accounting for 38% of total exports over this period, followed by the Middle East (26%), North America (19%), the Asia Pacific (7%), Latin America (1%) and Africa (0.3%). The remaining share (9%) was exported to a mixed or unidentified region.

Source: Ministry of Defence, UK defence export statistics 2024, 5 March 2026, Table 2

Licences granted for export

The ECJU administers licences for exporting ‘strategic goods’ from the UK; these include goods for military use and ‘dual use’ (goods that can be used for civil or military applications). The most common type of licence issued by the ECJU is a permanent Standard Individual Exports Licence (SIEL).

In 2025, the UK Government issued 10,400 SIELs, of which 7,900 (76%) were for permanent exports.

The number of SIELs issued in 2025 was notably below the long-term average of around 12,300 licences issued annually since 2008. The ECJU has said the recent fall has been caused by factors including:

• more complex casework (particularly for dual-use goods)
• a more challenging geopolitical environment (including expanded sanction measures)
• disruption caused by the transition to a new digital licensing system

501 SIEL applications were refused in 2025, representing 5% of SIEL licensing decisions. The majority of refusals were for applications to export to China.

The ECJU also publishes data on the value of SIELs issued, as valued by the exporter during the application process. This does not necessarily correspond to the actual value of goods exported.

Stockholm International Peace Research Institute’s arms transfers database

The Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) has developed its own unit of measurement to measure the volume of international transfers of major conventional weapons: the trend indicator value (TIV). The TIV of an item is intended to reflect its military capability rather than its financial value.

When measured in TIV, the UK was the eighth-largest exporter of major conventional weapons from 2021 to 2025 (behind the US, France, Russia, Germany, China, Italy and Israel).

Over this five-year period, aircraft were the UK’s main arms export, making up over a third (36%) of total TIV.

Source: SIPRI, Arms Transfers Database

Local area data

These statistics provide a national picture of defence exports; no local-level breakdown is available.

Further reading

The Commons Library briefing, An introduction to UK arms exports, provides detailed information on the UK’s policy towards arms exports.