US weapons exports up 50 percent in 2023

American defense companies racked up $81 billion in new foreign military sales last year, a more than 50 percent increase from 2022.

The biggest deals were a trio of sales worth about $30 billion for attack and transport helicopters, and long-range missile launchers to Poland and Germany, as NATO rushes to stock up on state-of-the-art weapons in the alliance’s stare-down with Moscow, according to State Department figures obtained by POLITICO ahead of their official release on Monday.

Those sales come as the war in Ukraine rages on. The Biden administration is working to seize the moment in Europe and Asia to wean countries off Russian arms imports and increase domestic defense manufacturing.