Stockholm. Sales of the world’s 100 largest arms manufacturers hit a new record in 2024, driven by conflicts in Ukraine and Gaza, despite production problems hampering deliveries, a report published yesterday revealed.
Throughout the year, sales amounted to $679 billion, an increase of 5.9 percent from the previous year, said the Stockholm International Institute for Peace Studies (Sipri).
Over the past decade, between 2015 and 2024, the revenue of the 100 largest suppliers increased 26 percent.
“Last year, global revenues from arms suppliers reached the highest level ever recorded by Sipri, as manufacturers took advantage of strong demand,” Lorenzo Scarazzato of the institute’s military expenditure and arms production program said in a statement.
Jade Guiberteau Ricard, from the same program, explained to Afp that “this is mainly due to Europe”, although “all regions increased, except Asia and Oceania.”
According to her, the increase in demand in the old continent is related to the war in Ukraine and “the perception of the threat from Russia by European states.”
This evolution is due, on the one hand, to the needs of Ukraine itself and, on the other, to those of the countries that sent it material and must replenish their supplies.
In several European countries “we have seen numerous modernization plans underway that will represent a new source of demand,” he added.
Thirty-nine of the top 100 arms suppliers are American, including the top three: Lockheed Martin, RTX (formerly Raytheon Technologies) and Northrop Grumman.
The group of American manufacturers recorded a 3.8 percent increase in their combined turnover to total 334 billion dollars, which represents almost half of the world total. In Europe, the turnover of the 26 largest arms companies increased 13 percent to 151 billion dollars.