The big arms manufacturers were not affected last year by the economic crisis.
The large arms manufacturers were not affected last year by the economic crisis caused by Covid-19, registering a new increase in their sales for the sixth consecutive year, according to a report published this Monday.
The turnover of the 100 most important groups in the defense sector in 2020 reached a new ceiling of 531,000 million dollars (about 470,000 million euros), of which more than 50% corresponded to US companies, according to the International Institute of Studies for the Stockholm Peace (SIPRI).
This amount represents an increase of 1.3% in one year in its sales of arms and services related to the military.
In the same period, the world economy fell by more than 3%, points out this organization based in Sweden, whose work is considered a global benchmark.
The turnover of this hundred weapons groups has increased steadily since 2015, accumulating a total of 17%, according to SIPRI.
With the exception of Russian and French companies, which reduced their sales by 6.5% and 7.7%, respectively, the other powers noted an increase in the income of their groups in this sector over the past year.
Five US giants once again took the top spots globally: Lockheed-Martin (F-35 fighter jets, missiles) took first place with sales of $ 58.2 billion, followed by Raytheon Technologies – new number two after a merger – Boeing, Northrop Grumman and General Dynamics.
British BAE Systems is the first European group, ranking 6th, while Airbus was 11th.
The Chinese companies Norinco (7th), Avic (8th) and CETC (9th) and the American L3Harris (10) complete the podium.
For SIPRI, the strength of these large companies in 2020 is explained by the budget support policies of governments in the face of the pandemic.
However, the defense sector has not been completely immune to COVID-19.
“In many cases, the measures adopted to try to stop the coronavirus interrupted supply chains and delayed deliveries,” highlights SIPRI. (I)
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