Arms Sales By World’s Biggest Defense Companies Rise To Almost $600 Billion
Sales of arms and military services by the world’s 100 largest defense companies rose by 1.9% last year to reach $592 billion, according to newly-released data from the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI).
In a report issued on December 5, the institute said the fastest growth from any region was in the Middle East, where the sales of the five companies included in the list grew by 6.5 per cent.
In contrast, the sales of U.S.-headquartered companies fell by 0.9% during the year. Despite that, U.S. defense contractors continue to dominate the industry, taking up 40 of the 100 places and accounting for $299 billion of revenue.
Almost a third of the total sales from the Top 100 companies are by the five largest companies on the list, all of which are from the U.S.: Lockheed Martin
The next five on the list include one UK company, BAE Systems, and four Chinese firms – Norinco, AVIC, CASC and CETC – between them these five reported arms sales of almost $102 billion, according to SIPRI.
Supply chains and sanctions
The increase in 2021 sales marked the seventh consecutive year of rising global arms sales, but SIPRI said difficulties with supply chains during the Covid-19 pandemic led to shortages of vital components, delays in global shipping and labour shortages and meant that growth was slower than it might otherwise have been.
"We might have expected even greater growth in arms sales in 2021 without persistent supply chain issues," said Dr Lucie Béraud-Sudreau, director of the SIPRI Military Expenditure and Arms Production Program. "Both larger and smaller arms companies said that their sales had been affected during the year."
Dominic Dudley is a freelance journalist
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