*MOSCOW – *Russia has overtaken Britain to become the world’s secondbiggest arms producer behind the United States, the Stockholm InternationalPeace Research Institute (Sipri) said in a report published on Monday.
“Russian companies have experienced significant growth in their arms salessince 2011,” Sipri senior researcher Siemon Wezeman said in a statement.
“This is in line with Russia’s increased spending on arms procurement tomodernise its armed forces.”
Russia had 10 companies in Sipri’s list of the world’s “Top 100”arms-producing and military services companies in 2017, accounting for 9.5per cent of sales. The 10 companies’ sales totalled $37.7 billion, Siprisaid.
That put Russia in second place, a position that had been held by Britainsince 2002.
The United States topped the list with 42 companies and sales up by twopercent to $226.6 billion — accounting for 57 per cent of the Top 100’sarms sales.
“US companies directly benefit from the US Department of Defense’s ongoingdemand for weapons,” said Aude Fleurant, the director of Sipri’s Arms andMilitary Expenditure Programme.
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US company Lockheed Martin remained the world’s largest arms producer in2017, with sales of $44.9 billion, the think tank said.
For the first time, a Russian company appeared in the list of the top 10arms producers: Almaz-Antey, which increased its sales by 17 percent in2017 to $8.6 billion.
Meanwhile, Britain, the largest arms producer in Western Europe, fell tothird position, with sales of $35.7 billion. BAE Systems is ranked thefourth-biggest company in Sipri’s Top 100 list.
The institute also noted that sales by Turkish companies rose by 24 percentin 2017, reflecting Ankara’s “ambitions to develop its arms industry tofulfil its growing demand for weapons and become less dependent on foreignsuppliers,” another Sipri researcher, Pieter Wezeman, said.
The figures exclude China, for which figures are not available, Siprinoted. – APP / AFP
