Direct Commercial Sales Foreign Military Sales Excess Defense Articles
International Military Education and Training Drawdowns

The United States administration is required by Congress to prepare an annual report on military assistance, military exports, and military imports known as the "Section 655" report (after the section of the Foreign Assistance Act which requires it).  This report provides the most detailed official accounting available of specific U.S. weapons systems exported or licensed for export to governments or private buyers around the world.  

The Pentagon and the State Department each prepare their own portion of the 655 report.  All sales and grants of military equipment and training administered by the DOD's Defense Security Cooperation Agency are included in the Pentagon's section, including drawdowns, excess defense articles, international military education and training, and foreign military sales (FMS). The State Department is in charge of direct commercial sales (DCS); its section includes only DCS licenses authorized, not actual weapons deliveries. 

The State Department's report for fiscal year 2003 (1 Oct. 2002 - 30 Sept. 2003) is provided below in pdf format. To view the report, you will need Adobe Acrobat Reader, which can be downloaded for free by clicking the icon below. The 655 report is required by law to be posted online, but the Defense Department has not yet posted its sections of the FY2003 report.

State Department 

Direct Commercial Sales (DCS): Transfers negotiated between the manufacturing company and the foreign buyer, and approved by the Department of State through the issuance of an export license.

Data covers licenses authorized, not actual weapons deliveries.  

Entire report (best for printing whole copy)

Report broken into 10-15 page segments:

• Introduction

• Part I: Defense Articles: Afghanistan-Australia, Austria-Cayman Islands, Chile-Estonia, Ethiopia-Germany, Gibraltar-Ireland, Israel-Japan, Jordan-Netherlands, Netherlands Antilles-Papua New Guinea, Paraguay-Slovenia, South Africa-Sweden, Switzerland-United Nations, Uruguay-Zambia,

• Part II: Defense Services: Algeria-Indonesia, Ireland-Vietnam,

• Semiautomatic Assault Weapons Exported

Defense Department

Foreign Military Sales (FMS): New and used weapons, spare parts, and related services purchased directly from the US government by foreign governments. The weapons may be new production, which the Pentagon contracts with the manufacturer for, or from used stocks. This part of the report is arranged by region.

Cover letter

The report is broken down by alphabetically by country:

Afghanistan - Azerbaijan,
Bahrain - Bulgaria,
Cambodia - Czech Republic,
Denmark - East Timor,
Ecuador - France,
Georgia - Hungary,
India - Jordan,
Kazakhstan - Madagascar,
Malawi - Mozambique,
NACMA - Norway,
Organization of American States - Portugal,
Qatar - Sri Lanka,
St. Kitts - Tanzania,
Thailand - Turkmenistan,
Uganda - Zimbabwe.

Excess Defense Articles (EDA): Used weapons and equipment given away for free to foreign governments. Excess defense articles are given away as-is and are sometimes refused by the foreign government. The report gives the quantities offered and those actually accepted.

Entire section

Alphabetically by country:

International Military Education and Training (IMET): The money spent on training for the militaries of 113 countries. More complete information on military training is available here.

Drawdowns: Assistance given at the discretion of the President.

For a general guide to the arms sales process and in-depth descriptions of different types of sales, check out the "Ways and Means" chapter of The Arms Trade Revealed: a Guide for Investigators and Activists.