Middle East defense industry flexes its muscles with nine firms in SIPRI’s Top 100
Companies from Israel, the UAE and Turkey made an estimated $31 billion in arms revenue in 2024, according to a new report.
Companies from Israel, the UAE and Turkey made an estimated $31 billion in arms revenue in 2024, according to a new report.
Meanwhile, Iran’s military spending decreased by 10 percent to reach $7.9 billion in 2024.
Europe has entered a period of high and increasing military spending, “which is likely to continue for the foreseeable future," Lorenzo Scarazzato, a researcher at SIPRI’s Military Expenditure and Arms Productions Program, told Breaking Defense.
While Russian defense contractors recorded a surge to their bottom lines, Chinese companies saw their year-over-year revenue growth stagnate, according to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute.
The US remains the world’s largest defense spender, outlaying $916 billion last year, a 2.3 percent annual increase, ahead of China in second place, which spent an estimated $296 billion, a 6 percent increase over the same period.
SIPRI said global competitors moved faster, and revenues for defense firms in Asia and the Middle East "increased substantially."
The war in Ukraine may have spurred large defense jumps in Europe, but analysis suggests the Middle East seems preoccupied with regional issues.
“While the full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 certainly affected military spending decisions in 2022, concerns about Russian aggression have been building for much longer,” said Lorenzo Scarazzato, researcher with SIPRI’s Military Expenditure and Arms Production Programme.
The general's comments come ahead of the standard public notifications associated with foreign military sales.
Russian and Chinese international weapon sales are continuing on a downward trend from last year's report.
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