Global arms sales, firms and trends – report
NAN-F-23
Arms
Stockholm, Jan. 5, 2017 (dpa/NAN) Sales of military equipment and services by the world’s top 100 arms groups totalled 370 billion dollars in 2015, the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) says.
Almost two-thirds of defence firms on the top 100 list in 2015, the most recent year covered by SIPRI for that category were based in the United States and Western Europe, accounting for about 80 per cent of global arms sales.
US firms accounted for just more than half the sales, SIPRI estimated.
Lockheed Martin kept the top spot it has held since 2009 with arms sales of 36.4 billion dollars. That placed it ahead of U.S. rival Boeing, at almost 28 billion dollars, and British-based BAE Systems, with 25.5 billion dollars.
Other European firms on the top 10 list were the Airbus Group, which placed seventh with sales of close to 13 billion dollars, while Italy’s Leonardo’s (formerly known as Finmeccanica) sales of 9.3 billion dollars put it in ninth place.
Global sales of arms and military services in 2015 dipped 0.6 per cent in real terms on 2014, SIPRI said, citing lower sales for companies based in North America.
In 2015, Western European companies’ arms sales rose 6.6 per cent, reversing a drop in 2014 of 7.4 per cent.
Eleven Russian firms accounted for almost a tenth of the sales on the 100 list, on the back of increased defence spending.
Chinese companies were not included due to lack of data. However, SIPRI estimated nine Chinese firms could likely have been on the 100 list.
On global military spending, SIPRI data from 2015 estimated the sum at 1.67 trillion dollars, up 1 per cent from 2014.
The U.S. was the top spender. U.S. expenditures of 596 billion dollars equalled 36 per cent of global spending and were almost three times as much as China’s.
Third-placed Saudi Arabia spent 87.2 billion dollars in 2015, with Russia in fourth place.
SIPRI’s data on global arms transfers, comparing five-year periods to even out fluctuations caused by a big order during any specific year, showed the volume increased by 14 per cent in the 2011-15 period, compared to 2006-10.
The largest importer was India, where imports between 2011 and 2015 stood at 14 per cent of the world’s total, twice as much as second-placed Saudi Arabia. China, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Australia rounded off the period’s largest arms importers.
Imports by states in Europe decreased by 41 per cent between 2006–10 and 2011–15, SIPRI said. (dpa/NAN)
(Edited by Julius Enehikhuere)