The 25 Companies Making Billions Building The World’s Weapons

The United States Department of Defense submitted an $824 billion budget request for fiscal 2024, $8 billion more than its budget in fiscal 2023. The United States spends more on defense than any other country in the world, and a handful of major companies are benefitting. 

The world’s 100 largest defense contractors – many of which are headquartered in the United States – brought in over $592 billion in weapons and military service contracts in 2021. And only 25 companies accounted for over 70% of those sales. (Here is a look at every gun currently used by the U.S. military.)

Using data on 2021 arms and military services sales from the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, 24/7 Wall St. identified the companies profiting most from war. Each of the 25 companies on this list is estimated to have topped $5 billion in arms and military services sales in 2021.

The world’s five largest defense contractors by 2021 arms sales are American companies. These contractors include Lockheed Martin, maker of the fifth generation F-35 fighter jet, and Northrop Grumman, the company behind the newly unveiled B-21 Raider stealth bomber. Each of these weapons systems has a nine-figure price tag.

All told, 12 of the 25 largest defense contractors are headquartered in the United States, seven are in China, and the rest are in Europe and the United Kingdom. (Here is a look at the countries with the most military firepower.)

None of the companies on this list trade exclusively in arms and military services. Boeing, for example, manufactures a range of weapons systems, including the V-22 Osprey, a plane capable of vertical takeoff and landing. But nearly half of its 2021 revenue came from other divisions, such as commercial aircraft.

Click here to see the companies profiting most from war.

Click here to read our detailed methodology.

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