Arms companies in the UK and elsewhere in western Europe bucked the downward trend in sales in much of the rest of the world by recording a 6.6% rise last year, according to data compiled by the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI).
UK companies listed in the top 100 arms companies were among those who reversed the trend, with sales up 2.8% in 2015. Arms sales by western European companies had dropped in 2013 and 2014.
SIPRI, an independent institute that has been providing the most exhaustive data on arms sales since 1990, recorded a total of $370.7bn (£293.6bn) worldwide in 2015, a slight drop on the previous year of 0.6%. Total sales have been dropping since 2011. But the fall in 2015 was minuscule, raising concern at SIPRI that the trend may be about to go into reverse, as is happening with western European companies.
The US and western Europe account for more than 80% of all arms sales worldwide.
Arms sales by companies in western Europe listed in SIPRI’s 100 biggest producers totalled $95.7bn, a rise of 6.6% on 2014.
The UK’s biggest arms manufacturer, BAE Systems, saw sales rise to $25.5bn in part from Typhoon combat aircraft exported to Saudi Arabia.
Although revenues have been falling at US companies, they continue to dominate the arms trade, with seven in the top 10 selling companies. Lockheed and Boeing occupy the top two spots, with the UK’s BAE Systems in third place.
Andre Fleurant, director of SIPRI’s arms and military expenditure programme, said: “Lockheed Martin remains the largest arms producer in the world. However, US companies’ arms sales are constrained by caps on US military spending, delays in deliveries of major weapon systems and the strength of the US dollar, which has negatively affected export sales.”
But it is different in western Europe: “Major arms export deals in 2015, such as those to Egypt and Qatar, have increased French arms companies’ sales,” said Fleurant. “A 67.5% surge in arms sales by Dassault Aviation Group seems to be mainly the result of such exports.”
Six French companies accounted for $21.4bn in sales, a rise of 13.1%. Three German companies listed in the top 100 increased their combined sales by 7.4%.
Russian companies too have increased their arms sales, mainly as a result of modernisation of the Russian military. The combined arms sales of the 11 Russian companies in the top 100 reached $30.1 bn.
