ASELSAN entered the list of the top 100 defense industry companies of the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute at 60th place, Baykar at 76th place, Turkish Aerospace Industries at 82nd place and Roketsan at 100th place.
Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) announced the top 100 defense industry companies that sold the most weapons and military services in 2022.
Accordingly, the arms and military service sales of the 100 largest companies in the defense sector in 2022 decreased by 3.5% compared to the previous year, falling to $597 billion. Thus, sales decreased after 7 years of increase.
The report points out that the Russia-Ukraine war, which started in February 2022, and geopolitical tensions around the world caused a strong increase in the demand for weapons and military equipment last year. “But despite receiving new orders, many US and European arms companies have been unable to significantly increase production capacity as labor shortages, rising costs and the war in Ukraine have worsened supply chain shortages.”
In addition, the report points out that countries placing new orders towards the end of the year and the time difference between orders and production caused the increase in demand not to be reflected in the revenues of these companies last year. It was stated that last year’s decline was mainly due to the decline in arms revenues of large companies in the USA, and that due to the current backlog of orders and difficulties in increasing production capacity, the income from these orders will probably be reflected in company accounts within 2-3 years.
The report stated that the arms revenues of companies in Asia and the Middle East increased significantly in 2022, and emphasized that this was due to the “ability of companies in the regions to respond to increasing demand in a shorter time.”
“The revenues of arms companies have increased significantly in Asia, Oceania and the Middle East. The increase in pending orders and new contracts indicates that the revenues of global arms companies may increase significantly in the next few years,” the report said.
“Many arms companies have faced obstacles in adapting to production for high-intensity conflicts. However, new contracts have been signed, especially for munitions, and this can be expected to translate into higher revenues in 2023 and beyond,” said Lucie Beraud-Sudreau, Director of SIPRI’s Military Expenditure and Weapons Production Programme.
US companies top the list
It is noteworthy that all 5 companies at the top of the list since 2018 have been based in the USA. These companies were listed as Lockheed Martin, Raytheon Technologies, Northrop Grumman, Boeing and General Dynamics.
A total of 42 US companies among the 100 largest companies in the global defense sector made arms sales of $ 302 billion in 2022, covering 51% of all sales, with a decrease of 7.9% in real terms compared to the previous year.
It was noteworthy that the total sales of the 8 Chinese arms companies on the list increased by 2.7% compared to the previous year, reaching $108 billion. 3 of the Chinese manufacturers (NORINCO, AVIC, CASC) were in the top 10 on the list.
While there are 26 companies headquartered in Europe among the top 100 companies, their total arms sales increased by 0.9%, reaching $121 billion.
In Germany, which started purchasing new weapons for its army after the Russia-Ukraine war, arms sales of Rheinmetall, ThyssenKrupp, Hensoldt and Diehl increased by 1.1% last year compared to the previous year, reaching $9.1 billion.
Due to lack of data, only two Russian companies were included in the list of the 100 largest in 2022. Their total arms revenues decreased by 12% to $20.8 billion.
Turkish companies increased their sales
4 Turkish companies entered SIPRI’s list of the top 100 defense industry companies that sold the most weapons and military services last year.
In the list, ASELSAN ranked 60th, Baykar ranked 76th, Turkish Aerospace Industries ranked 82nd and Roketsan ranked 100th.
The total revenues of Turkish companies increased by 22% last year compared to 2021, reaching $5.5 billion.
The report drew attention to Baykar, known for its unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) production, and emphasized that the Turkish company ranked 76th in the list with an increase of 94% in its revenues.
Since its establishment in 1966, SIPRI has been preparing research, reports and analyzes in areas such as conflict, armament, arms control and disarmament.
Source: Trthaber / Prepared by Irem Yildiz