War is a Racket (General Smedley Butler)

By Remix News

Revenues of leading Western defense companies have skyrocketed following the outbreak of war in Europe, and U.S. arms manufacturers continue to dominate the global arms industry, news portal Mandiner reports.

According to the Defense News magazine’s recent ranking of the “100 largest defense companies in 2022,” the five largest U.S. arms companies have combined revenues of $196 billion.

Four U.S.-based companies were ranked among the world’s five largest military companies.

The United States has become Ukraine’s main source of arms in the midst of the war, providing some $37 billion in military aid to Kyiv, according to the portal.

In the first half of the year, revenues at the 25 largest Western defense companies rose 11 percent to $212 billion, according to the latest available data.

It is calculated that total arms sales by these companies are expected to reach $448 billion in 2023, an increase of $47 billion from last year.

By 2026, that amount could rise by more than 20 percent to $554 billion due to arms shipments to Ukraine and rearmament in Europe, according to the report.

Further estimates suggest that Western defense companies will increase their revenues by $150 billion, or 37 percent, between 2021 and 2026, Iran’s Farsi news agency reported. In contrast, economic growth in developed countries will reach half that rate in the same period.

In Defense News’ top ten ranked by 2022 sales, there are seven U.S. and three Chinese companies.

Europe’s two leading defense companies, Airbus and Leonardo, ranked 11th and 12th respectively.

While both Airbus and Leonardo are multinational corporations, Europe’s biggest single defense company is Germany’s Rheinmetall AG, manufacturers of the state-of-the-art Leopard 2 tank, and was ranked 19th. Its 2022 sales totaled $6.75 billion.