Which countries are buying the most weapons?

In March 2015 the United States approved a deal to sell nearly $100 million worth of smart bombs to the Turkish government, this purchase is part of the United States' foreign military sales program.

Not only do these weapons bring in revenue for the United States, they are a key part of the country's foreign policy with arms playing an important role in the world's economy.

So, which are the other countries that are big in the international arms trade?

Firstly it's important to acknowledge that the arms trade includes military information, vehicles and technology as well as guns, bullets and bombs.

Most countries are unable to produce or develop modern military technology so there are only a handful of countries that supply the rest of the world.

According to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, the global total for military expenditures in 2014 was roughly $1.7 trillion - more than 2% of the global GDP.

It's believed that there are around 900 million small arms and light weapons currently in circulation.

But, who is making all of this equipment?

The United States is the biggest weapons and technology exporter in the world by a large margin.

It supplies roughly a third of the global arms trade and in 2015 saw nearly $50 billion in foreign military sales.

Four of the top five largest defence contractors in the world are American companies. The next four largest exporters are Russia, Germany, France and China.

On the other side, the single largest purchaser of military equipment is Saudi Arabia which spent roughly $6.5 billion in 2014.