Figures released by the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, a monitoring group, showed that even as the total trade in weapons grew by 14 percent between 2011 and 2015, the two largest exporters, Russia and the US, managed to capture even greater portions of the pie. In line with longstanding security alliances in the Gulf, the US sent nearly 10 percent of its total exports between 2011 and 2015 to Saudi Arabia, and a further 9.1 percent to the United Arab Emirates. On the demand side the five biggest importers of arms in 2011-15 were India, Saudi Arabia, China, the UAE and Australia, who together accounted for some 34% of all arms imports illustrating once again that in Asia and the Middle East re-armament is very much the order of the day. Elsewhere in the Middle East, arms imports by Qatar rose by 279% over the same period, and imports by the UAE rose by 35%. Watch the VICE News documentary Rebranding the AK-47: A Weapon of Peace: 
 
 "Despite low oil prices, large deliveries of arms to the Middle East are scheduled to continue as part of contracts signed in the past five years," said Pieter Wezeman, Senior Researcher at SIPRI, in a statement. Russia is the second major supplier, with 25% of sales, its principal clients being India and China. SIPRI assessed that Vietnam's stepped-up purchasing reflected fears of Beijing's growing power in Asia and territorial claims in the South China Sea that overlap with its own. China’s arms exports have increased by 88%, with Pakistan its main weapons market. Arms imports by Asian countries have also increased significantly, with supplies to Vietnam, mainly from Russia, rising by 699% in five years, according to Sipri. Arms trade Volume of international transfers 14% Increase in 2011-15 vs 2006-10 74% of exports come from just five countries - the US, Russia, China, France and Germany 
 
 58% comes from the US and Russia alone Thinkstock 
 
 China itself is also developing as an arms seller.
– The global weapons trade is booming, Vice reports, citing numbers from the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute that show it grew 14% between 2011 and 2015. That's not surprising—between "tensions in Asia" and a "state of total melt-down" in the Middle East, according to the BBC. "Just look at the headlines," the news outlet states. "In Asia and the Middle East, re-armament is very much the order of the day." Indeed weapons imports by the Middle East have increased by 61% in the past five years, the Guardian reports. And imports are rising even more in Asia, with Vietnam increasing its imports by an astounding 699% in the past five years. The biggest weapons importers in the world are India, Saudi Arabia, China, the United Arab Emirates, and Australia. As massive as the global weapons trade is, the US dominates it, accounting for one-third of the entire thing. In the past five years, the US has sold "major" weapons to at least 96 countries—or nearly half the membership of the UN—with the major buyers being Saudi Arabia, the UAE, and Turkey. A congressional report found the US sold more than $36 billion worth of weapons in 2014. That's nearly $10 billion more than in 2013. Russia remains the world's second largest weapons dealer, accounting for 25% of all exports. Russian weapons are mostly going to India, China, and Vietnam. China is the world's fastest-growing arms exporter, with most of its weapons going to Pakistan. China's share of exports grew by 88% from 2006 to 2015.