Sales of arms and military services by the world’s 100 largest arms-producing and military services companies totalled $398bn in 2017, according to SIPRI. Russian companies out-sold UK firms for the first time.
Sales of arms and military services by the world’s 100 largest arms-producing and military services companies totalled $398.2bn in 2017, according to new international arms industry data released by the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI).
The total for the SIPRI Top 100 in 2017 is 2.5% higher than in 2016 and represents an increase of 44% since 2002 (the first year for which comparable data is available; figures exclude China). The figures mark the third consecutive year of growth in Top 100 arms sales.
With 42 companies listed in 2017, the U.S. continued to dominate the Top 100 in 2017. Taken together, the arms sales of U.S. companies grew by 2.0% in 2017, to $226.6bn, which accounted for 57% of total Top 100 arms sales. Five U.S. companies were listed in the top 10 in 2017.
The combined arms sales of Russian companies accounted for 9.5 of the Top 100 total, making Russia the second largest arms producer in the Top 100 in 2017—a position that had been occupied by the UK since 2002. Taken together, the arms sales of the 10 Russian companies listed in the Top 100 increased by 8.5% in 2017, to $37.7bn.
In 2017 a Russian company, Almaz-Antey, appeared in the top 10 for the first time since SIPRI started publishing its annual Top 100 list.
The combined arms sales of the 24 companies in Western Europe listed in the Top 100 increased by 3.8% in 2017, to $94.9bn, which accounted for 23.8% of the Top 100 total. The UK remained the largest arms producer in the region in 2017, with total arms sales of $35.7bn and seven companies listed in the Top 100.
Taken together, the arms sales of the four Indian companies ranked in the Top 100 totalled $7.5bn in 2017, representing a 1.9% share of Top 100 arms sales.