Understanding US foreign military sales globally since 2008: an analysis of a new dataset

This paper introduces a new and unique dataset of all United States Foreign Military Sales (FMS) programme notifications from 2008 to September 2025. The dataset covers purchasing countries, specific equipment involved (and quantities when available), financial values, contractors associated with each notification, and associated equipment and services bundled with the main equipment sold. We introduce the main instruments used by the US to transfer military equipment abroad and provide an overview of both the equipment and financial volumes related to each instrument, showing that the FMS programme is the main instrument for transfers of military equipment. We then analyse the trends in number and values of total FMS notifications since 2008, at the regional as well as country level. We break down military sales notifications by region, focusing on Europe, the Near East and South Asia, East Asia and the Pacific, the Americas and Africa. We then study in detail the types of equipment sold by region and over time. We then focus on high-value items, and detail the additional services and equipment included in sales of select weapon systems. We conclude by reflecting on the main attributes of the Bruegel FMS dataset and suggesting avenues for further research that could benefit from this data.