Excellent. Good job. And yet the British people are still banned from owning hand guns even under strict rules.

D Nick Ashley, Huntingdon, England

This is something to be proud of?

Martin, Nr Reading, UK

Sickening. Bullets are cheaper than the seed to feed the poor in the countries we as a nation supply to. We should be ashamed of ourselves for allowing it. It is time to look at our morality.There can be a case for self defense but never one to excuse the sale of weapons to increase world misery.

frank tobin, lanchester, England

In deference to Gladstone who spoke of the "Noble Savages" we today are viewing the works of the "Parliamentary Savages."

Patrick Sullivan, Des Moines, USA

Selling weapons of war is nothing to brag about. To sell weapons and keep an arms industry healthy means creating conflicts of war somewhere in the world so that the industry can keep producing. One day the weapons Britains sells will be turned on them.

Jim Wills, Brisbane, Australia

so not a huge shock that we seem to be a popular target for terrorism then..after all one reaps as one sows..

zugerman, zurich, switzerland

Am I the only UK person reading this to feel thoroughly ashamed if that statistic? This is not something to be proud of!

Dan, Norwich, UK

Britons have been giving Americans grief for decades for being the world's #1 arms exporter. What are the chances that Brits will now apply the same antipathy they had to the US to ourselves?

None. Hypocrites!

Garreth, Bristol, England

We can ensure other countries receive arms from our first class defence industry with some of the world's most technologically sophisticated companies according the Minister for Trade and Investment but sadly can't ensure our own troops Weapons don't jam or misfire due to inferior ammunition....

PR, Manchester,

Wow - we're the biggest exporter of killing technology in the world this year - even bigger than the US! What a wonderful achievement. I'm so proud and filled with patriotic fervour the tears of nationalistic joy are flowing freely and unashamedly - in fact it's quite possible I might just burst. Now...where's my Union Jack t-shirt - I feel a strong urge to express my pride and sense of belonging...*stands and blubs helplessly to the national anthem*....oh yes...

Andy, Middlesbrough, UK

John Thompson, we're not exporting WMD. It's mostly aircraft, small arms, munitions, and related equipment. Dan from Norwich, of course it's something to be proud of. If we didn't do it a lot of folk would be out of work and another country would step in and fill the market gap. Go Arms Firms!

Stewart, London,

Whatever Sir Digby may think about our 'first-class defence industry', it is a sorry state of affairs that a country that sent its own troops into Iraq on the premise of removing 'weapons of mass destruction' is the largest exporter of those weapons around the world. Hypocrisy of the highest order.

John Thompson, Brighton, UK

$31 billion (£16 million). Wow, the dollar is ceretainly getting weak.

William D H Carey, schoten B_2900, Belgium

It's gratifying to find that Britain is good at something.

When it comes to selling weapons to kill innocent people we are world class.

The late John Lennon summed it up perfectly when he wrote 'If looks could kill it would have been us instead of him''

We are all Brown's mercenaries.

sisan leigh, salford, england

Hooray! We're number one in....

....international arms dealing.

Oh dear.

Chris, London,

The one country where the UK has lagged is Korea who continue to give big projects to the US and now France and virtually nothing to the UK.

Yet the UK MOD has shortlisted two Korean shipbuilders for the Royal Navy MARS project (worth US$5Billion) without any demand for offset or to include British content in the bids.

Once again we create a long term competitor for short term saving.

Pete, Bristol, England

Then why are so many of our troops and aircraft so poorly equiped and maintained?

Shocking.

Nick_MX, Brighton,

No wonder since the MoD isn't interested in arming our own forces adequately for Bush's illegal wars.

John , London, UK