Washington approved $28 billion worth of arms deals, with Poland and the Baltic states the biggest buyers
American weapons sales to NATO states nearly doubled in number and value in 2022, Foreign Policy magazine reported on Thursday. With the conflict in Ukraine draining European military stockpiles, the top US arms merchants have all seen their share prices skyrocket.
The US government approved 14 major arms sales to NATO members in 2021, totalling around $15.5 billion, the magazine stated, citing an analysis of Pentagon figures. By the end of 2022, it had approved 24 sales worth roughly $28 billion.
While some of these deals were negotiated years beforehand, Russia’s military operation in Ukraine sent NATO’s European members scrambling to bump up their military spending, and to replenish vehicles, weapons, and ammunition donated to the Ukrainian military.
Latvia, Lithuania, and Estonia have all ordered HIMARS Multiple-Launch Rocket Systems (MLRS), the same systems the US has given dozens of to Ukraine. Earlier this month, the US State Department authorized the sale of 116 M1A1 Abrams tanks to Poland, after Warsaw sent its Soviet-era T-72 and domestically-made PT-91 tanks to Kiev’s forces.

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