Germany Quadruples Military Arms Exports

Germany more than quadrupled its military arms exports last year to €1.332 billion ($1.773 billion) in sales, according to an economics ministry report presented on Wednesday. The increase was largely due to a handful of major deals including the sale of four high-speed corvette boats to Malaysia and South America. For arms sales in total including military equipment, firearms, hunting and sports weapons, Germany issued €4.9 billion in export certificates, up 49 percent from 2002, the report said. No figures for total arms sales were available.