U.S. companies dominate top 5 of global largest 100 arms companies

U.S. companies that sell arms and military services dominate the top 5 of global largest 100 arms companies, the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) said in a report on Monday.

“For the first time since 2002, the top five spots in the ranking are held exclusively by arms companies based in the United States: Lockheed Martin, Boeing, Northrop Grumman, Raytheon and General Dynamics,” the SIPRI report said, quoting newly released data from its Arms Industry Database.

“These five companies alone accounted for 148 billion U.S. dollars and 35 percent of total Top 100 arms sales in 2018,” it said.

Sales of arms and military services by the sector’s largest 100 companies totaled 420 billion U.S. dollars in 2018, marking an increase of 4.6 percent compared with the previous year, according to the report.

In addition, total arms sales of U.S. companies in the ranking amounted to 246 billion U.S. dollars, equivalent to 59 percent of all arms sales by the Top 100.

This is an increase of 7.2 percent compared with 2017, the report added.

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Elsewhere, in 2018, arms sales increased for French companies but decrease for British and German companies, while Russian companies’ arms sales remained stable.

According to the report, 80 of the 100 top arms producers in 2018 were based in the U.S., Europe and Russia.

Headquartered in Stockholm, SIPRI’s research covers international conflicts, armaments, arms control and disarmament.

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Source: Xinhua – STOCKHOLM