Monitoring Desk
STOCKHOLM: The sale of arms and military ammunition exponentially grew in 2021, researchers said Monday, as the top 100 ordnance companies sold arms and related services totalling $592 billion in 2021, 1.9 % more than the previous year.
The Stockholm International Peace Research Institute’s (SIPRI)’s latest report said that though the Covid-19 pandemic limited worldwide supply problems, the war in Ukraine increased the demand for arms.
The report said that Russia’s invasion of Ukraine was also expected to worsen the supply chain because Russia being a major supplier of raw materials used in the production of weapons.
The war between Russia and Ukraine, at the same time, increased the demand for arms.
SIPRI Researcher Nan Tian said that the demand would increase in the current circumstance as countries that have sent weapons to support Ukraine to the tune of thousands of millions of dollars would be looking to refill stockpiles.
Secondly, he said, the worsening security environment means countries have to look to procure more weapons.
US ordnance companies dominate global weapons production, considering over half, $299 billion, of global sales and 40 main weapon industries.
At the time, the region was the only one to see a down in sales: 0.9 percent down on the 2020 figures.
Top Arms Companies Growth
Among the top five weaponry companies, Boeing, Lockheed Martin, Raytheon Technologies, Northrop Grumman, and General Dynamics, only Raytheon recorded an increase in sales.
Sales from the 8 greatest Chinese arms companies rose 6.3 % to $109 billion in 2021. European arms firms took 27 of the spots on the top 100, with combined sales of $123 billion, up 4.2 % compared to the year 2020.
The authors said that in the report, the demand for weaponry had become increasingly over the last three or four years.
