Saudi Arabia has replaced India as the world’s largest importer of defence equipment in 2014, and is expected to consolidate this position even further in 2015.

According to the Global Defence Trade Report issued by US-listed research company IHS, defence spending in the kingdom is due to rise by 54 per cent in 2015 to $9.8bn, based on planned deliveries.

“Growth in Saudi Arabia has been dramatic and, based on previous orders, these numbers are not going to slow down,” the report quotes Ben Moores, senior defence analyst at IHS Aerospace, Defence & Security, as saying.

The kingdom has also replaced India as the largest export market for the US defence industry, and one in every seven dollars now spent on global defence is being spent by Riyadh.

The Middle East has been identified as the key global market by IHS and the company has forecast that $110bn could be spent in the next decade.

In 2014, Saudi Arabia and the UAE accounted for a total $8.6bn of defence imports, which is more than the combined figure of Western Europe.

Despite lower oil prices, defence spending in key Middle East markets is not expected to diminish, although Russian exports to Iran are expected to be badly affected.