US Vice Admiral Joe Rixey announced today that the official estimate from the Pentagon is that US arms makers will export $40 billion in weapons abroad in fiscal year 2016, which ends in October. This is slightly down from the $46.6 billion exported the previous year.

The decline, according to Rixey, is the result of a "burdened" system whereby export approval is taking longer than expected, citing complaints from companies that multi-billion dollar deals with Qatar and Kuwait are stuck in the hopper awaiting approval. Those two alone would've had the export figure at $47 billion.

The US exports more weapons than any other country, and its 2015 level was a record high. Rixey noted that demand for US attack helicopters remains strong, and that there is a sustained, high volume of requests, though many in the military complain they're getting more requests than approvals.