STOCKHOLM (Sputnik) — West Europe's arms and military services companies boosted their sales by 6.6 percent in 2015, reversing declines seen the year before, SIPRI said after releasing its yearly rating of the top 100 arms-producing and military services companies in the world.
The institute highlighted France, which saw six of its companies boost sales by 13 percent last year. The increase was driven by contracts with Egypt and Qatar.
Meanwhile, 11 Russian companies increased cumulative sales by 6.2 percent in the same year and took up over 8 percent of total global sales. US sales fell 2.9 percent.
Overall, the top 100 manufacturers' sales actually declined 0.6 percent in 2015 and amounted to $371 billion. The list is topped by US and European companies, with the US Lockheed Martin aviation company at the very top. Boeing kept its second place for the third year running, while the United Kingdom's BAE Systems remained firmly at number three.
Russia's Almaz-Antey dropped from number 11 to number 13 between 2014 and 2015, while the United Aircraft Corporation slid to 17th place from number 14.
The SIPRI defense company database was created in 1989. The data includes both exports and domestic orders.
