US Weapons Factories Dominate Global Arms Trade

© Reuters / Mark Wilson

The latest report by Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) revealed that sales of arms and military services by global majors totaled $398.2 billion in 2017, marking a 44 percent growth over the past 15 years.

"The overall number excludes Chinese data due to the lack of available information to allow for a reasonable or consistent estimate," the report reads.

Here's the top ten of the world's biggest defense corporations by sales, according to the institute.

1. Lockheed Martin

© Global Look Press

The US company reportedly sold arms worth $44.9 billion in 2017, marking an 8.3 percent growth against the year prior. The Bethesda-based arms giant remained the world's number one weapons producer by sales. Lockheed Martin produces various defense systems, from combat ships to hypersonic missiles to fighter jets. The company delivers the F-35 fighter jet, the world's most expensive weapons system, to Pentagon.

2. Boeing

© Global Look Press

US space and aircraft giant Boeing brought in $26.9 billion in sales. 2017 marked a substantial gap of $18 billion between Lockheed Martin and Boeing.

"The fall in Boeing's arms sales can be partially attributed to delays in the delivery of KC-46 tanker aircraft and the end of deliveries of C-17 transport aircraft," according to the SIPRI report.

Arm's sales accounted for only 29 percent of the aircraft manufacturing giant's total in 2017. Last year, Boeing managed to seal a wide range of contracts with the US Government. The corporation signed over 20 deals with a total value of $13.7 billion in September alone.

3. Raytheon

© Reuters / Michaela Rehle

This US arms manufacturer is reportedly the world's biggest producer of guided missiles and missile defense systems. In 2017, Raytheon saw a sales increase of two percent compared to 2016. The company reportedly earned $23.9 billion.

Its portfolio includes the Patriot missile system, a combat-tested platform, which is reportedly the backbone of European ballistic missile defense. Raytheon's Patriot system is used in nine countries outside Europe.

4. BAE Systems

FILE PHOTO Philippine soldiers aboard an M113 armored personnel carrier during an operation against Islamic militants at a remote village in Butig town, the southern Philippine island of Mindanao © AFP / Richele Umel

The British arms producer sold $22.9 billion worth of weapons, demonstrating a 3.3 percent growth against the previous year. The UK remained the largest arms producer in the region in 2017, with total arms sales of $35.7 billion.

5. Northrop Grumman

FILE PHOTO Two Northrop Grumman MQ-4C Triton unmanned aerial vehicles © Reuters

This US arms-manufacturing corporation brought $22.4 billion in sales in 2017, marking a modest year-on-year growth of 2.4 percent. The aerospace and defense tech firm bought American rocket maker Orbital ATK, with the aim of expanding its business in the space market.

6. General Dynamics

© Reuters / Ints Kalnins

The Virginia-based defense company sold arms worth $19.5 billion, marking a slight decrease from $19.6 billion the previous year. Its M1 Abrams tank has been used in nearly every major US military operation over the past 40 years.

7. Airbus Group

© Global Look Press / Qian Baihua

The second largest defense contractor in Europe, France's Airbus, brought in $11.3 billion in arms sales in 2017. Arms sales are not the key revenue earner for the European aerospace giant accounting for only 15 percent of its $75 billion revenue. Its business is mostly focused on commercial aircraft and space sectors.

The Eurofighter Typhoon fighter jet, the result of collaboration between the United Kingdom, Germany, Italy and Spain, is Airbus's most recognizable military product.

8.Thales 

© Wikipedia

In 2017, French defense corporation Thales demonstrated sales of $9 billion, which is around half of its total 2017 revenue. The company managed to raise weapon sales by nearly seven percent from the previous year. Thales manufactures a wide range of defense products, from armored vehicles to missile defense to navigation equipment.

9. Leonardo

© Reuters

Italian weapon producer brought in $8.9 billion in 2017 arms sales, which makes 68 percent of its total revenue. Leonardo produces helicopters, missiles and drones, as well as equipment for non-military space programs.

10. Almaz-Antey

© Reuters / Maxim Shemetov

The Russian weapons supplier entered the top ten of the SIPRI's annual ranking. In 2017, the country's biggest arms company increased sales by 17 percent to $8.6 billion. The company's flagship product, the S-400, a mobile long-range surface-to-air missile system, has managed to lure dozens of foreign military buyers over the last five years.

Obviously there are many more than 10 global majors in the military industrial complex. The total sales for the above named companies accounts for slightly less than half the $398 bn mentioned at the top of this article. 

Just dealing with the devil we know - US companies account for $137.6 bn of the $198.3 bn total of the top ten. That is nearly 70%. America and NATO, read, Deep State, has a powerful vested interest in ensuring there are wars and threats of wars occurring all over the planet. IMHO - In my humble opinion - they are doing a spectacular job at that.

Too bad peace doesn't pay as well.

Iran Building Weapons Factories in Lebanon and Syria to Use on Israel

By ISABEL KERSHNER

A picture from an Israeli satellite and annotated by an Israeli satellite company showing what analysts said was a construction site for an Iranian long-range missile production facility in northwestern Syria. Credit Imagesat International NV, via Reuters

JERUSALEM — Israel is using a visit this week by the United Nations secretary general, Antonio Guterres, to highlight concerns about what it says are Iran’s efforts to produce advanced, precision weapons in Lebanon and Syria.

“Iran is busy turning Syria into a base of military entrenchment,” Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said at a news conference with Mr. Guterres on Monday, “and it wants to use Syria and Lebanon as war fronts against its declared goal to eradicate Israel.”

Mr. Netanyahu asserted that Iran “is building sites to produce precision-guided missiles toward that end in both Syria and in Lebanon.”

He added: “This is something Israel cannot accept. This is something the U.N. should not accept.”

Israel’s defense minister, Avigdor Lieberman, also spoke in his meeting with Mr. Guterres about Israel’s concerns about factories for precision weapons and what he called Iran’s repeated attempts to smuggle arms into Lebanon.

“We are determined to prevent any threat to the security of the citizens of Israel,” Mr. Lieberman said, according to a transcript of his remarks from his office.

The assertions are not new, but Israel now appears to want to put them on the international agenda.

Israel’s chief of military intelligence, Maj. Gen. Herzl Halevi, told an audience at a policy conference in Herzliya, Israel, in June that Iran had been working over the past year to set up independent production facilities in Lebanon to manufacture precise weapons, which use advanced technology to guide them to specific targets.

The beneficiary, he said, would be Hezbollah, the Lebanese Shiite organization, with which Israel fought an inconclusive, month-long war in 2006. Adding that Iran was setting up similar facilities in Yemen, General Halevi warned, “We cannot remain indifferent to this and we don’t.”

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel raised concerns about Iranian weapons factories in Lebanon and Syria with United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres in Jerusalem on Monday. Credit Thomas Coex/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images

Israeli leaders also pressed Mr. Guterres to prod the United Nations peacekeeping force in Lebanon, UNIFIL, into fulfilling its mandate to prevent Hezbollah’s weapons buildup.

“I will do everything in my capacity to make sure that UNIFIL fully meets its mandate,” said Mr. Guterres, visiting Israel and the Palestinian territories for the first time since taking up the top United Nations post in January. He added that “the idea or the intention or the will to destroy the state of Israel is something totally unacceptable from my perspective.”

Israel has carried out several airstrikes in Syria in recent years against convoys or stores of advanced weapons said to be destined for Hezbollah in Lebanon. Acting under the cover of the Syrian civil war, the Israeli strikes have prompted little retaliation from Hezbollah, which is fighting in Syria to prop up the government of President Bashar al-Assad, an Iranian ally.

Through Hezbollah and other proxies, Iran has been extending its influence and its reach in the region and, according to Israeli officials, is working to provide Hezbollah with more precise weapons to hit valuable targets in its next war against Israel.

But while Israel has acted with relative impunity in the chaotic environment of Syria, any pre-emptive strike on Lebanese soil could spiral into a broader conflict over Israel’s northern border.

Israel’s Yedioth Ahronoth newspaper reported this week that in the face of the Israeli warnings, Prime Minister Saad Hariri of Lebanon has been working to stop Iran’s construction of the missile factory in his country.

More generally, Israel has been voicing concern that arrangements for cease-fires and de-escalation zones in southern Syria will help Iran and its loyalists consolidate their presence across Israel’s frontiers.

Last week Mr. Netanyahu traveled to Sochi, Russia, on the Black Sea to confer with President Vladimir Putin. “The victory over ISIS is welcome,” Mr. Netanyahu told Mr. Putin, referring to the Islamic State, which has been battling Mr. Assad’s forces. “Iran’s entry is unwelcome, endangering us, and in my opinion, endangering the region and the world,” Mr. Netanyahu said, according to his office.

Israeli officials have also raised these concerns with American officials.

Annaza (see map at top) is about 20 km northeast of Tartus