The world’s 100 biggest arms companies’ sales of weapons and military services increased by 1.3% in 2020, reaching a record USD 531bn, despite the ongoing global health pandemic, finds the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI).
The Swedish think tank said last year, 2020, marked the sixth consecutive year of sales growth by the top 100 firms, even as the global economy contracted by 3.1 percent during the first year of the pandemic.
Overall sales were 17 percent higher than in 2015 when it first included data on Chinese firms.
“In much of the world, military spending grew and some governments even accelerated payments to the arms industry in order to mitigate the impact of the Covid-19 crisis,” said Alexandra Marksteiner, a researcher with the SIPRI Military Expenditure and Arms Production Programme, said in a statement on Monday.
“The industry giants were largely shielded by sustained government demand for military goods and services,” she added.
US companies continue to dominate the ranking, with total sales of USD285 bn from 41 companies accounting for about 54% of all arms sales among the 100 biggest companies.
The top five companies in the ranking since 2018 have all been based in the US, SIPRI said.
Arms sales from the top Chinese firms amounted to an estimated USD66.8 bn in 2020, 1.5% more than in 2019.
Chinese firms accounted for 13% of the Top 100 arms sales total, ahead of the United Kingdom, which had the third-largest share.
“In recent years, Chinese arms companies have benefited from the country’s military modernization programs and focus on military-civil fusion,” said Nan Tian, SIPRI senior researcher. “They have become some of the most advanced military technology producers in the world,” he added.
The 26 European arms companies in the Top 100 jointly accounted for 21 percent of total arms sales, or $109bn, the think tank said.
The seven UK companies recorded arms sales of $37.5bn in 2020, up by 6.2% compared with 2019.
Arms sales by BAE Systems, the only European firm in the top 10, increased by 6.6% to $24bn.
Sales by French companies, meanwhile, declined by 7.7% amid a drop in deliveries of Rafale fighter aircraft by Dassault, according to the Swedish think thank
Weapons manufacturer Thales saw sales drop 5.8%, which it blamed due to the pandemic-induced disruptions.
Other companies also reported supply chain disruptions and delayed deliveries.
Meanwhile, Russian arms sales dropped for the third year in a row, SIPRI said.
Total sales of the nine Russian companies ranked in the Top 100 decreased from $28.2bn in 2019 to $26.4bn in 2020, with Russian firms accounting for 5 percent of the Top 100 arms sales total.
Other countries with weapons firms in the Top 100 included Israel, Japan, India, and South Korea. Sales at the four South Korean firms grew 4.6% from 2019 to $6.5bn, according to SIPRI.
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