Arms trade

The World’s Largest Arms-Producing Companies In 2018 [Infographic]

The Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) has released its latest overview of the world's largest arms-producing and military services companies, finding that their sales increased 4.6% last year. In total, global weapons industry sales reached $420 billion, a figure that's 47% higher than in 2002. The study excluded Chinese arms manufacturers due to a lack of data to make a reliable estimate. It found that as in previous years, American companies dominated the top-100 list, with sales by all U.S. companies amounting to $246 billion - 59% of total global arms sales.

The five biggest U.S. companies - Lockheed Martin, Boeing, Northrop Grumman, Raytheon and General Dynamics - raked in $148 billion and accounted for 35% of total sales, a 7.2% increase on 2017. 2018 was the first year since 2002 that the top-five spots in the ranking were exclusively held by U.S. companies. Lockheed Martin was in first place with its sales totalling $47.26 billion while Boeing and Raytheon had the second and third-highest figures on the list with $29.15 billion and $26.19 billion respectively. Non-U.S. companies making the top-10 included BAE Systems with $21.21 billion, Airbus with $11.65 billion, Leonardo with $9.82 billion, Almaz-Antey with $9.64 billion and Thales with $9.47 billion...