World arms sales hit $592B in 2021: Report

By Gokhan Ergocun

ISTANBUL (AA) - Marking the seventh year of consecutive growth, sales by the world's top 100 arms producers reached $592 billion in 2021 -- with the US taking a 50.5% share, according to an international think tank on Monday.

The sales of arms and military services by the industry's 100 largest companies increased 1.9% compared with the previous year, the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) said in a report.

The US continued hosting the highest number of companies ranked in the top 100 as the arms sales of 40 US companies totaled $299 billion.

Since 2018, the top five companies in the ranking have all been based in the US, while one British and four Chinese companies were other firms among the top 10.

The first firm in the list was Lockheed Martin, of which total sales amounted to $60.34 billion last year, followed by Raytheon Technologies ($41.85 billion) and Boeing ($33.4 billion).

Out of the top 100 companies, 27 were headquartered in Europe and their combined arms sales totaled $123 billion.

Lucie Beraud-Sudreau, director of the SIPRI Military Expenditure and Arms Production Programme, said supply chain issues had a severe impact on arm sales last year.

Touching on the Russia-Ukraine war, the report said production of arms by Russian firms has increased, despite problems related to accessing semiconductors and sanctions.

"For example, Almaz-Antey has stated that it has not been able to receive payments for some of its arms export deliveries," the report added.

There were six Russian firms in the top 100 list of which total sales reached $17.8 billion.

On the Asia side, 21 firms in Asia and Oceania made it to the top 100 with a total sales amount of $136 billion last year.

"The eight Chinese arms companies in the listing had total arms sales of $109 billion," the report said.

Two Turkish firms were also included in the list: Aselsan ($2.16 billion) and Turkish Aerospace ($1.2 billion).