ABSTRACT
Data from the Arms Control and Disarmament Agency (ACDA) indicate that Middle Eastern countries spent some $180 billion on arms imports during 1978-1988, with $104 billion of this total being spent during 1984-1988. If the ACDA percentages showing arms transfers to the Middle East included Libya, Algeria, Tunisia, and Morocco as part of the Middle East, the annual percentage of world arms imports would always have exceeded 40 percent. Arms orders in the Middle East have been determined and shaped by a complex set of sub-conflicts which have swept across the region from Morocco to the Indian Ocean. The equipment trends provide what may be the best simple measure of both the trends in arms sales and the trends in military capability. The trend toward high technology has put great pressure on Jordan and Oman, which have relatively effective forces, but which are particularly hard put to keep up with the race in military technology.
