Global arms sales pass $ 400 billion
SWEDEN: The world's 100 largest arms dealers, excluding Chinese
vendors, sold weapons for $401 billion in 2009, with US vendors
remaining in first place, according to a report published Monday.
"Despite the continuing global economic recession in 2009, the total
arms sales of ... 100 of the world's largest arms-producing companies
increased by $14.8 billion from 2008," the Stockholm International Peace
Research Institute (SIPRI) said in a statement upon releasing the
report.
That amounts to a year-on-year increase of eight percent, and "an
increase of a total of 59 percent in real terms since 2002", the think
tank said, pointing out that 61.5 percent of all 2009 arms sales made by
the top 100 arms dealers could be attributed to 45 companies based in
the United States.
"US Government spending on military goods and services is a key
factor in arms sales increases for US arms-producing and military
services companies and for Western European companies with a foothold in
the US arms and military services market," SIPRI arms industry expert
Susan Jackson explained in the statement.
On Sipri's list of the world's 10 largest arms vendors, seven were
American: Lockheed Martin, Boeing, Northrop Grumman, General Dynamics,
Raytheon, L-3 Communications and United Technologies.
In 2009, Lockheed Martin inched ahead of British BAE Systems to take
global first place, raking in $33.4 billion on arms sales compared to
BAE's $33.3 billion. Both companies meanwhile each accounted for 8.3
percent of all weapons sold by the world's top 100 vendors.
BAE's branch in the United States alone accounted for $19.3 billion
in sales, which if it had been a separate company would have secured it
a seventh place on the global ranking, SIPRI said.
Thirty-three of the top 100 companies were meanwhile based in nine
Western European countries: Finland, France, Germany, Italy, Norway,
Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and Britain, accounting for $120 billion
dollars worth of sales, or 30 percent of all weapons sold in 2009,
according to SIPRI.
After BAE, the world's second largest vendor, trans-European group
EADS topped the ranking for the continent, securing a seventh place with
$15.9 billion in sales, or 4.0 percent of the global market, and Italian
Finmeccanica, which ranked eighth globally, with $13.3 billion in sales
and 3.3 percent of worldwide sales.Stockholm, Monday, AFP |
