The United States has secured the release of basketball star Brittney Griner in exchange for Russian Viktor Bout, nicknamed “the merchant of death”. Others deserve this title much more than him. He was just a Lilliputian participant in the global arms trade that grew 19% between 2015 and 2021.
SIPRI, the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, has just released its annual analysis of military equipment sales worldwide.
We learn that sales of the 100 largest arms and military services companies increased by 1.9% in 2021. The top arms producers are, in order of magnitude: US, China, UK, France, Russia, Italy, Israel, Germany, Japan and South Korea.
The 40 American companies on the SIPRI list achieved revenues of $299 billion in 2021, more than 50% of the global total. The five largest are in the aerospace sector: Lockheed Martin, Raytheon Technologies, Boeing, Northrop Grumman and General Dynamics.
Only one company in the top 100 is Canadian. CAE Montreal, a global leader in flight simulators, ranked 80th (up from 99th in 2020) with military revenues of $1.28 billion.
COVID, Ukraine and guns
The SIPRI report notes that arms manufacturers have faced labor and supply chain issues due to the pandemic.
Six Russian companies are among the top 100, with revenues of $17.8 billion in 2021, an insignificant increase of 0.4% from 2020. Some of them recorded the biggest declines in arms sales to foreign countries.
According to SIPRI, the stagnation of the Russian arms industry is explained by the sanctions imposed on Russia – due to its invasion of Ukraine – which have reduced its access to semiconductors, essential elements of military equipment.
But in the West the future is promising. Tens of billions of dollars of weapons and ammunition have already been supplied to Ukraine. SIPRI estimates that it will take years for some of the major arms manufacturers to meet the demand created by the war.
The UK continues to be the top European country with eight companies for a total turnover of $40.4 billion. The five French companies on the list report sales up 15% to $28.8 billion.
Israel sells weapons to Arab countries
Three Israeli companies are on the SIPRI list. Israel’s largest arms maker, Elbit Systems, with revenues of $4.8 billion, has just set up shop in the United Arab Emirates, which are, along with Bahrain, the main buyers of Israeli military equipment.
Since signing the Abraham Accords with Arab countries two years ago, Israel has obtained $3 billion worth of arms deals from them.
