Sales by major defence equipment makers were boosted in 2023 owing to war and conflicts in Gaza and Ukraine and tension brewing in Asia, with an increase shown in the manufacturers based in Russia and Middle East, a report by a leading think-tank said on Monday. A report by the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) has claimed that world’s 100 largest arms companies increased their arms sales by 4.2% in 2023 to $632 billion which was mainly driven by wars and regional tensions in some areas across the globe. The sales by these global arms giants saw a dip of 3.5% in 2022 as they were not able to meet the high demands due to labour shortage, but many of them have managed to meet the growing demand of arms as they could set up their production to the desired quantity in 2023, the report by SIPRI has claimed. 🇷🇺 The arms revenues of the two Russian companies in the SIPRI Top 100 surged +40% to $25.5b, with Rostec reporting a +49% increase. Full details in the fact sheet: #ArmsIndustry #Top100 — SIPRI (@SIPRIorg) December 2, 2024 “Overall, smaller producers were more efficient at responding to new demand linked to the wars in Gaza and Ukraine, growing tensions in East Asia and rearmament programmes elsewhere,” SIPRI’s report stated. The Russian companies on the list, including Russian government owned Rostec, alone accounted for the biggest combined rise of 40% to $26 billion, reported Reuters. “There has been a marked increase in arms sales in 2023, and this trend is expected to continue in 2024,” said Lorenzo Scarazzato, a researcher at SIPRI's program on military expenditure and arms production. “The arms revenues of the Top 100 arms producers still did not fully reflect the scale of demand, and many companies have launched recruitment drives, suggesting they are optimistic about future sales,” Lorenzo added.
