The world's hundred largest arms-producing companies generated $679 billion from military sales in 2024, a 5.9 percent real-terms increase over the previous year and the highest figure ever recorded by the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute. The acceleration—up from 4.2 percent growth to $632 billion in 2023—marks the point at which order flows triggered by the wars in Ukraine and Gaza, along with broader rearmament pledges, began converting decisively into recognized revenue. Yet the headline gains mask a more complex industrial picture: demand continues to outpace legacy production capacity, supply-chain bottlenecks persist for complex systems, and regional asymmetries reveal diverging paths to mobilization.
For the United States, which retains nearly half the global market, the question is no longer whether defense budgets will rise but whether industry can deliver at the tempo combat and deterrence now demand. Europe's steeper growth curve, Russia's wartime surge, and the expansions across Israel, Türkiye, and India underscore a global shift—from procurement as policy signal to procurement as operational necessity.
Winners and drivers: Europe surges, US dominates by volume
Thirty-nine U.S. companies accounted for $334 billion in arms revenues in 2024, up 3.8 percent year-on-year and representing roughly 49 percent of the Top 100 total. The U.S. baseline remains enormous, but growth lagged behind Europe's sprint. Twenty-six European firms—excluding Russia—generated $151 billion, a 13 percent jump that reflects the continent's post-invasion rearmament push and urgent wartime procurement for artillery ammunition, air defense, and land systems. Media reports citing SIPRI note that twenty-three of those twenty-six companies increased sales, a near-universal uptick driven by governments racing to rebuild stocks and expand industrial capacity.
Within Europe, the United Kingdom's seven firms posted $52.2 billion in 2024, up 6.6 percent and accounting for 7.7 percent of global Top 100 revenues. Russia presents a murkier picture: the two Russian arms companies in the Top 100—Rostec and United Shipbuilding Corporation—increased their combined arms revenues by 23 percent to $31.2 billion as domestic wartime demand offset weaker exports despite Western sanctions. The Kremlin has effectively shifted from export-led to state-command procurement, a model that trades market diversification for immediate volume.
Israel's defense sector rode Gaza-war demand and export contracts to sharp gains. Rafael Advanced Defense Systems saw revenues rise 27 percent to $4.8 billion, with approximately half of 2024 sales derived from international customers, while its order backlog swelled to $17.76 billion—representing 3.6 years of sales and a pipeline that will test production throughput for years. Türkiye's five arms companies hit a combined $10.1 billion in 2024, up 11 percent, with ASELSAN alone surging 24 percent to $3.5 billion on the strength of domestic modernization and export sales. India's three ranked firms grew to $7.5 billion, continuing a steady self-reliance trajectory.
Media coverage citing SIPRI reported a 1.2 percent decline in Asia-Oceania revenues to roughly $130 billion for 2024, driven by an estimated 10 percent drop among eight Chinese firms amid ongoing procurement-corruption investigations—a reminder that industrial ramp-ups can stumble on institutional as well as technical constraints.
Members are reading: Why record revenues mask the real constraint—capacity timelines, sub-tier bottlenecks, and the gap between orders and deliveries.
What to watch in 2025
The 2024 revenue record establishes a new baseline, but the critical variables for 2025 lie in production tempo rather than topline budget commitments. Europe's "ReArm Europe" momentum will face a genuine test: can industry absorb accelerated funding without multi-year delays, or will bureaucratic friction and supplier constraints slow delivery? For the United States, the question centers on supply-chain rehabilitation for complex systems—aeronautics, missiles, precision munitions—and whether workforce recruitment and sub-tier capital expenditure can finally catch up to demand.
Ammunition and air-defense capacity expansions will determine whether Ukraine can sustain defensive operations and whether NATO can credibly deter further escalation. Asia-Oceania's trajectory depends partly on whether Chinese procurement stabilizes post-investigation and how Japanese and South Korean ramp-ups interact with European orders for shared platforms and components. Order backlogs across Israel, Türkiye, and India will convert into revenues only as fast as production lines and integration facilities allow.
The gap between revenue recognition and operational delivery remains the industry's defining tension. Record sales signal that governments are finally paying for the industrial mobilization analysts have urged since 2022. Whether that mobilization translates into fielded capabilities on the timelines combat demands is the question that will shape 2025's data—and the conflicts those capabilities are meant to deter or decide.
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