The United States remained the world's largest arms manufacturer in 2017, a Swedish-based research institute said Monday.
The arms sales of 42 U.S. companies listed among the world's 100 biggest arms manufacturers grew by 2 percent in 2017 to 226.6 billion U.S. dollars, accounting for 57 percent of total global sales, according to a report of the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI).
"U.S. companies directly benefit from the U.S. Department of Defense's ongoing demand for weapons," Aude Fleurant, director of SIPRI's Arms and Military Expenditure Programme, said.
U.S. security and aerospace company Lockheed Martin continued to be the world's largest arms producer in 2017, with arms sales of 44.9 billion dollars, the report said.
Meanwhile, Russia became the second-largest arms producer in 2017. The combined sales of the 10 Russian companies on the list increased by 8.5 percent in 2017, to 37.7 billion dollars, accounting for 9.5 percent of the total arms sales by the top 100 arms groups.
"Russian companies have experienced significant growth in their arms sales since 2011," said Siemon Wezeman, senior researcher with SIPRI's Arms and Military Expenditure Programme. "This is in line with Russia's increased spending on arms procurement to modernize its armed forces."
Headquartered in Stockholm, SIPRI's research covers international conflicts, armaments, arms control and disarmament.
