Today, naval forces or coastal guard ships are maintained by more than 160 countries. However only large marine powers possess developed ship-building industries with a capacity to build warships for their own needs and for export. Understandably, a modern warship is extremely sophisticated structure, designed to integrate critical science and technology advances. In the early 90s, the USA, USSR and the rest of the world each accounted for one third of output in the global shipbuilding effort. Warships and vessels for export have originated from national naval forces and directly from slipways of shipyards. The share of new-construction ships has risen dramatically in recent decades. Combatant and support ships with a displacement of over 100 tons are built for export by at least a dozen countries throughout the world. The number of importers of naval equipment is twice as large. On average, every fourth ship in the world is built for a foreign customer. Until recently, the Soviet (then Russian) shipbuilding industry was the leading exporter of ships, supplying foreign customers between 1981-1993 with about 150 combatant ships and boats - over 20% of the world's total for that kind of export products.. Russian-built warships and vessels are known to sport the colors of 35 world nations. In terms of export volumes, the world's second largest shipbuilding industry is Germany, with over half its capacity dedicated to fulfillment of foreign orders.
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