{"id":22385,"date":"2020-12-17T07:13:52","date_gmt":"2020-12-17T12:13:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/english.cpnn-world.org\/?p=22385"},"modified":"2026-01-27T21:02:56","modified_gmt":"2026-01-27T20:02:56","slug":"global-arms-industry-sales-by-the-top-25-companies-up-8-5-per-cent-big-players-active-in-global-south","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/english.cpnn-world.org\/?p=22385","title":{"rendered":"Global arms industry: Sales by the top 25 companies up 8.5 per cent; Big players active in Global South"},"content":{"rendered":"
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DISARMAMENT & SECURITY .<\/p>\n

A report from the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute<\/a><\/p>\n

Sales of arms and military services by the sector\u2019s largest 25 companies totalled US$361 billion in 2019, 8.5 per cent more than in 2018. The largest companies have a geographically diverse international presence. This is according to new data released today [December 7] by the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI).<\/p>\n

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\nLockheed Martin F-35 Lightning II. Photo: Flickr\/Robert Sullivan
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New data from SIPRI\u2019s Arms Industry Database shows that arms sales by the world\u2019s 25 largest arms-producing and military services companies (arms companies) totalled US$361\u00a0billion in 2019. This represents an 8.5 per cent increase in real terms over the arms sales of the top\u00a025 arms companies in 2018.<\/p>\n

US\u00a0companies still dominate, Middle East represented in top 25 for the first time<\/strong><\/p>\n

In 2019 the top five arms companies were all based in the United States:\u00a0Lockheed Martin, Boeing, Northrop Grumman, Raytheon and General Dynamics. These five together registered $166\u00a0billion\u00a0in annual arms sales.\u00a0In total, 12\u00a0US companies appear in the\u00a0top 25 for 2019, accounting for 61\u00a0per cent of the\u00a0combined\u00a0arms sales of the top 25.<\/p>\n

For the first time, a Middle Eastern firm appears in the top 25 ranking. EDGE, based in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), was created in 2019 from the merger of more than 25 smaller companies. It ranks at number 22 and accounted for 1.3 per cent of total arms sales of the top 25.<\/p>\n

\u2018EDGE is a good illustration of how the combination of high national demand for military products and services with a desire to become less dependent on foreign suppliers is driving the growth of arms companies in the Middle East,\u2019 said Pieter Wezeman, Senior Researcher with the SIPRI Arms and Military Expenditure Programme.<\/p>\n

Another newcomer in the top 25 in 2019 was L3Harris Technologies (ranked 10th). It was created through the merger of two US companies that were both in the top 25 in 2018: Harris Corporation and L3 Technologies.<\/p>\n

Chinese\u00a0arms companies\u2019 sales increase, Russian companies\u2019 sales fall<\/strong><\/p>\n

The top 25 also includes four Chinese companies. Three are in the top 10: Aviation Industry Corporation of China (AVIC; ranked 6th), China Electronics Technology Group Corporation (CETC; ranked 8th) and China North Industries Group Corporation (NORINCO; ranked 9th). The combined revenue of the four Chinese companies in the top 25\u2014which also include\u00a0China South Industries Group Corporation (CSGC; ranked 24th)\u2014grew by 4.8\u00a0per cent between 2018 and 2019.<\/p>\n

Reflecting on the rise in the arms sales of Chinese companies, SIPRI Senior Researcher Nan Tian said: \u2018Chinese arms companies are benefiting from military modernization programmes for the People\u2019s Liberation Army.\u2019<\/p>\n

(Article continued on the right column)<\/p>\n

(Click here for a version of this article in French<\/a> or here for a version in Spanish.)<\/p>\n

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Question for this article:<\/div>\n
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Does military spending lead to economic decline and collapse?<\/a><\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

(Article continued from the left column)<\/p>\n

The revenues of the two Russian companies in the top 25\u2014Almaz-Antey and United Shipbuilding\u2014both decreased between 2018 and 2019, by a combined total of $634 million. A third Russian company, United Aircraft, lost $1.3 billion in sales and dropped out of the top 25 in 2019.<\/p>\n

Alexandra Kuimova, Researcher at SIPRI, said: \u2018Domestic competition\u00a0and reduced government spending on fleet modernization were two of the main challenges for\u00a0United Shipbuilding\u00a0in 2019.\u2019<\/p>\n

Other\u00a0notable developments and trends in the top 25<\/strong><\/p>\n

After the USA, China accounted for the second largest share of 2019 arms sales by the top 25 arms companies, at 16 per cent. The six West European companies together accounted for 18 per cent. The two Russian companies in the ranking accounted for 3.9 per cent.<\/p>\n

Nineteen of the top 25 arms companies increased their arms sales in 2019 compared with 2018. The largest absolute increase in arms revenue was registered by Lockheed Martin: $5.1 billion, equivalent to 11 per cent in real terms.<\/p>\n

The largest percentage increase in annual arms sales\u2014105 per cent\u2014was reported by French producer Dassault Aviation Group. \u2018A sharp rise\u00a0in export deliveries of Rafale combat aircraft pushed Dassault Aviation into the top 25 arms companies for the first time,\u2019\u00a0says Lucie B\u00e9raud-Sudreau,\u00a0Director\u00a0of\u00a0the SIPRI Arms and\u00a0Military\u00a0Expenditure\u00a0Programme.<\/p>\n

Mapping\u00a0shows Global South becoming integrated into global arms industry<\/strong><\/p>\n

The report also looks at the international presence of the 15 largest arms companies in 2019. These companies are present in a total of 49 countries, through majority-owned subsidiaries, joint ventures and research facilities.<\/p>\n

With a global presence spanning 24 countries each, Thales and Airbus are the two most internationalized companies\u2014followed closely by Boeing (21 countries), Leonardo (21 countries) and Lockheed Martin (19 countries).<\/p>\n

The United Kingdom, Australia, the USA, Canada and Germany host the largest numbers of these foreign entities. Outside the arms industry hubs of North America and Western Europe, the largest numbers of entities of foreign companies are hosted by Australia (38), Saudi Arabia (24), India (13), Singapore (11), the UAE (11) and Brazil (10).<\/p>\n

Alexandra Marksteiner of the SIPRI\u00a0Arms and\u00a0 Military\u00a0 Expenditure\u00a0Programme\u00a0said: \u2018There are\u00a0many\u00a0reasons why arms companies might want to establish themselves overseas,\u00a0 including\u00a0better access to growing markets, collaborative weapon programmes, or\u00a0policies\u00a0in the\u00a0host countries tying arms purchases to technology transfers.\u2019<\/p>\n

Of the 49 countries hosting foreign entities of the top 15 arms companies, 17 are in low- and middle-income countries. \u2018Countries in the Global South seeking to jump-start their arms production programmes have welcomed foreign arms companies as a means to benefit from technology transfers,\u2019 said Diego Lopes da Silva, Researcher at SIPRI.<\/p>\n

Siemon Wezeman, Senior Researcher at SIPRI, said: \u2018The Chinese and Russian arms companies in the top 15 have only a limited international presence. Sanctions against Russian firms and government-mandated limits on acquisitions by Chinese firms seem to have played a role in constraining their global presence.\u2019<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

DISARMAMENT & SECURITY . A report from the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute Sales of arms and military services by the sector\u2019s largest 25 companies totalled US$361 billion in 2019, 8.5 per cent more than in 2018. The largest companies have a geographically diverse international presence. This is according to new data released today [December … Continue reading Global arms industry: Sales by the top 25 companies up 8.5 per cent; Big players active in Global South<\/span> →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[16,76],"tags":[11],"class_list":["post-22385","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-disarmament","category-global","tag-global"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/english.cpnn-world.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22385","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/english.cpnn-world.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/english.cpnn-world.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/english.cpnn-world.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/english.cpnn-world.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=22385"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/english.cpnn-world.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22385\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":38109,"href":"https:\/\/english.cpnn-world.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22385\/revisions\/38109"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/english.cpnn-world.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=22385"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/english.cpnn-world.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=22385"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/english.cpnn-world.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=22385"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}