CANBERRA: The Stockholm International Peace Research Institute’s (SIPRI) widely cited study on defense exports for the 2016 calendar year, published in December, showed Australia ranking 20th worldwide with about 0.3 percent market share. Given the size of our defense budget, we should be a lot higher up the scale,” the prime minister told reporters. According to IHS Jane’s, Australia’s $26 billion defense budget in 2016 made the island nation the 11th biggest spender worldwide. In 2016, Canberra’s arms exports totaled just $1.6 billion, the SIPRI study showed. Australia’s Bushmaster armored vehicle has been sold to clients including Jamaica, Japan, the UK and the Netherlands, according to SBS News. Most of Australia’s products are sold to the US, Indonesia and Oman, though, according to SIPRI.Australian-made defense equipment to “Five Eyes” markets, a reference to the supranational intelligence allegiance between Australia, Canada, New Zealand, the UK and the United States. Pyne also noted that the weapons sales would be used for “cementing” ties with Middle East nations. Indo-Pacific and European markets will also be priorities in the new strategy.
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