Still Leading Merchants of Death, US Arms Sales Remain Sky High

Amid raging conflicts and historic human displacement, U.S.-based companies are still leading the world in arms sales—dominating the list of the top 100 weapons-producers and accounting for 54.4 percent of total revenues, the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) revealed Monday.

Examining data from the 100 largest “arms-producing and military services” firms in the globe, SIPRI found that U.S. and Western European companies together account for 80.3 percent of the arms revenue for the top 100 giants worldwide.

This is a large slice of a giant pie. Last year, sales of arms by the top 100 totaled $401 billion, SIPRI finds.

The report notes that worldwide weapons sales have seen a slight decline of 1.5 percent between 2013 and 2014, due to a moderate reduction in arms sales for North American and Western European producers.

However, the sales by the prominent U.S.-based firm Lockheed Martin are off the charts. A report summary notes, “One company bucking the downward trend is Lockheed Martin, which has occupied the first position in the Top 100 since 2009. Its arms sales grew by 3.9 percent in 2014 to $37.5 billion.”