No reliable statistics are available for the value of such exports prior to 1997. The Stockholm International Peace Research Institute calculates that between 1993 and 1997 Britain ranked as the world's third-largest exporter of major conventional weapons. This year, for the first time, a British government has published accurate statistics on the value of arms exports. The Ministry of Defence is not given to selling itself short when bragging about Britain's arms exports. But the ministry is sticking to its estimate that around 9,000 firms in Britain are involved in the defence sector.
Hawks are still a popular export.
ECGD has skewed its business in favour of defence exports. In the five years to 1998 more than a quarter of its guarantees were for defence exports. Last year, Indonesia rescheduled 260m of its ECGD-guaranteed debt, including over 100m owing on an earlier purchase of Hawk aircraft. There is one slender straw of comfort for the government. To date, its embarrassment over arms sales to Indonesia bears no comparison with the record of recent Conservative governments.