LONDON, June 22 (UPI) -- Britain was the top arms exporter in the world last year thanks to a major deal to ship fighter aircraft to Saudi Arabia, government figures show.
One-third of the exported weapons came from Britain in 2007, The Guardian reports. Arms suppliers had 10 billion pounds ($20 billion) in international orders, a record.
The government agreed to sell the Saudis 72 Eurofighter/Typhoon planes at a price of 4.4 billion pounds ($8.8 billion). The Ministry of Defense has refused to release details of the contract or the total the Saudis have to pay, although they said that the deal could bring in more than four times the price of the planes over 20 years, including training and maintenance.
Usually, the United States leads the world in arms sales, followed by Britain, Russia and France. In the past five years, U.S. firms have racked up a total of $63 billion in sales, with Britain following at $53 billion.
Trade Minister Digby Jones praised British arms firms.
"As demonstrated by this outstanding export performance, the U.K. has a first-class defense industry, with some of the world's most technologically sophisticated companies," he said.
