Oil price rise fuels leap in US arms sales

THE WAR on Terror and windfalls from rising oil prices have helped to push American military sales to foreign governments to their highest level since the first Gulf War.

An investigation by The Times has found that the US Congress was notified of sales worth $12.9 billion (

So far this year, foreign governments have agreed contracts with the Pentagon worth $21.7 billion, more than the total of any other year since 2001.

Defence analysts believe that the US could be heading for the biggest full-year total since 1993, when the end of the first Gulf War triggered a $42 billion bonanza for defence contractors.

Times of London