Top 100 arms makers see revenues surge in 2024
The world’s 100 largest arms-producing and military services companies posted record combined revenues of $679 billion in 2024, up 5.9 percent from the previous year, an international security think tank said on Monday, with Japanese firms seeing a 40-percent increase to $13 billion.
In an annual report, the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute attributed the rise to Russia’s war in Ukraine, the conflict in Gaza between Israeli and Hamas forces and other global and regional tensions.
While Lockheed Martin Corp. and two other US firms occupied the top three, five Japanese companies ranked in the top 100, the report showed. Japan is currently engaged in a defense buildup in its Nansei island chain, stretching southwest from its Kyushu region toward Taiwan, amid concerns over a potential Chinese attack on the self-ruled island, which Beijing considers part of China’s territory.
Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Ltd. ranked the highest among Japanese companies, at 32nd, with strong sales of aircraft and missile systems.
