Military spending is growing around the world and in 2017 it increased by 1.1 percent, according to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI).
U.S. arms expenditures rose by $9.6 billion, driving the global rise and further consolidating the status of the United States as the world’s top spender on the military – by far…
The U.S. spending on war is rooted in post-World War II “new Pentagon capitalism” that eventually became known as the military-industrial complex.
The model, revolutionized by then-Army Chief of Staff and later President Dwight D. Eisenhower, ensured that the United States’ scientific research, technological and industrial capacity would become “organic parts of our military structure” in conditions of national emergency, effectively giving the civilian economy a dual-use purpose.
The model eventually gave birth to the sprawling military-civilian economic base, or “military-industrial complex,” that Eisenhower famously criticized in his 1961 farewell address to the nation.
Civilian industry, science, and academia were used alongside an exorbitant and perpetually-expanding war budget to underwrite the Defense Department’s never-ending state of conflict with Cold War enemies, making the world safe for the unchallenged reign of the United States while “pump-priming” the U.S. economy whenever additional surges of “military Keynesian” spending by Washington was required.
The main beneficiary of the model has been the U.S. ‘defense‘ industry.
The U.S. is now home to five of the world’s top 10 large military contractors, with U.S.-based companies accounting for 57 percent of total arms sales by the top 100 large defense contractors worldwide, according to SIPRI data analyzed by USA Today.
Companies such as Lockheed Martin, which made $44.9 billion in arms sales in 2017, enjoy revenue from the U.S. government alone that totals more than the combined annual budgets of the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) and Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).
Meanwhile, a number of other companies across the globe have raked in handsome profits from the global trade in arms, many of which are used to commit horrific atrocities and crimes against humanity in such battlegrounds as Yemen.
According to a new analysis of SIPRI data by 24/7 Wall St, the following companies made the most money from governments’ addiction to war-spending and the demand for arms in conflict zones all over the world:
20. Textron
Country: United
States
Arms sales: $4.1
billion
Total sales: $14.2
billion
Profit: $1.2 billion
Main Products: Armored
vehicles, unmanned aircraft, and attack helicopters.
19. Naval Group
Country: France
Arms sales: $4.1
billion
Total sales: $4.2
billion
Profit: $36.5 million
Main Products: Naval
defense systems, warships and submarines.
18. Leidos
Country: United States
Arms sales: $4.4 billion
Total sales: $10.2 billion
Profit: $242.0 million
Main Products: IT infrastructure, data analytics, cyber security, logistics, surveillance vehicle and equipment development and maintenance
17. Rolls-Royce
Country: United
Kingdom
Arms sales: $4.4
billion
Total sales: $19.3
billion
Profit: $5.3 billion
Main Products: Defense
aerospace, marine and nuclear power systems, including engines
for aircraft like the C-130 Hercules, T-45 Goshawk, and Japanese
military V-22 Osprey fleet.
16. Honeywell International
Country: United
States
Arms sales: $4.5
billion
Total sales: $40.5
billion
Profit: $1.7 billion
Main Products:
Long-range weapons systems, operating systems for unmanned
aerial vehicles, and missile navigation systems; Chinook
helicopter T55 engines; maintenance and miscellaneous services.
15. United Shipbuilding Corp.
Country: Russia
Arms sales: $5.0
billion
Total sales: $5.6
billion
Profit: $101.0 million
Main Products:
Shipbuilding, repair and maintenance facilities across the
Russian Federation.
14. United Aircraft Corp.
Country: Russia
Arms sales:$6.4 billion
Total sales: $7.7 billion
Profit: $325.3 million
Main Products: MiG, Sukhoi, and Yak fighter jets.
13. Huntington Ingalls Industries
Country: United
States
Arms sales: $6.5
billion
Total sales: $7.4
billion
Profit: $479.0 million
Main Products:
Nuclear-powered aircraft carriers and submarines, surface
combatants, amphibious assault and transport vehicles, and Coast
Guard Cutters.
12. L-3 Technologies
Country: United
States
Arms sales: $7.8
billion
Total sales: $9.8
billion
Profit: $693.0 million
Main Products:
Intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance products and
services; communications technology used in top U.S. drones such
as Predator and Global Hawk; power distribution and
communication technology used by the U.S. Navy’s Virginia-class
submarine.
11. United Technologies Corp.
Country: United States
Arms sales: $7.8 billion
Total sales: $59.8 billion
Profit: $4.9 billion
Main Products: Advanced systems for military helicopters such as rescue hoists, autopilot systems, laser-guided weapon warning systems; engines used by military aircraft in 34 militaries worldwide, including the latest U.S. jets.
10. Almaz-Antey
Country: Russia
Arms sales: $8.6
billion
Total sales: $9.1
billion
Profit: $422.6 million
Main Products:
Surface-to-air missile systems.
9. Leonardo
Country: Italy
Arms sales: $8.9
billion
Total sales: $13.0
billion
Profit: $310.3 million
Main Products: Land
and naval electronics; information systems; helicopters, jet
aircraft, and unmanned aerial vehicles; torpedoes and
ammunition, weapons systems.
8. Thales
Country: France
Arms sales: $9.0 billion
Total sales: $17.8 billion
Profit: $931.1 million
Main Products: Land, air, sea and cyber defense products and services; radar systems for missile fire control.
7. Airbus Group
Country: Trans-European
Arms sales: $11.3
billion
Total sales: $75.2
billion
Profit: $3.3 billion
Main Products:
Commercial and private aircraft; Eurofighter Typhoon jet used in
numerous militaries including the Gulf Arab states; cyber
security; secure communication devices; A400M and C295 transport
aircraft.
6. General Dynamics Corp. (US)
Country: United
States
Arms sales: $19.5
billion
Total sales: $31.0
billion
Profit: $2.9 billion
Main Products:
Warships such as the Arleigh Burke-class Destroyer and Zumwalt-class
guided missile destroyer; submarines including the
Columbia-class sub; the latest U.S. Army Abrams tank;
communications/IT/cyber security systems.
5. Northrop Grumman Corp.
Country: United
States
Arms sales: $22.4
billion
Total sales: $25.8
billion
Profit: $2.0 billion
Main Products: Fighter
jets including the B-2 stealth bomber and F-35; maintenance for
U.S. strategic fleets and communications sytems.
4. BAE Systems
Country: United
Kingdom
Arms sales: $22.9
billion
Total sales: $23.5
billion
Profit: $1.1 billion
Main Products: Ground
combat vehicles such as the Challenger 2; fighter jets including
the Typhoon and F-35.
3. Raytheon
Country: United
States
Arms sales: $23.9
billion
Total sales: $25.3
billion
Profit: $2.0 billion
Main Products: Air-to-surface,
surface-to-air, air-to-air, and surface-to-surface precision
guided missiles; bombs and torpedoes; tactical small-arms
sights.
2. Boeing
Country: United
States
Arms sales: $26.9
billion
Total sales: $93.4
billion
Profit: $8.2 billion
Main Products: Civilian
aircraft such as the 737, 747, 767, 777, and 787 families; KC-46
refueling aircraft; P-8 Poseidon aircraft; F-15 fighters; Apache
helicopters.
1. Lockheed Martin Corp.
Country: United States
Arms sales:$44.9 billion
Total sales: $51.0 billion
Profit: $2.0 billion
Main Products: F-16, F-22, and F-35 fighter jets; sonar technologies; ships, missile defense systems, and missiles used by the Navy
by Elias Marat
from TheMindUnleashed Website
PARADIGM SHYFT 