Britain’s BAE Systems topped an international ranking of the world’s biggest arms groups, becoming the first non-US company to hold the spot, a leading defense think tank said yesterday.
The British group knocked US defense giant Boeing out of the top position in 2008, a ranking of the biggest defense groups worldwide tallied by the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) showed.
“The main reason that BAE became the largest arms-producing company in the world in 2008 is the increase in its US sales, which outpaced decreases elsewhere including in the UK,” the think tank said in the study.
With arms sales in 2008 of US$29.2 billion, Boeing fell from first place in 2007 to third following BAE Systems with US$32.4 billion and US group Lockheed Martin with US$29.4 billion.
It was followed by three US groups, Northrop Grumman, General Dynamics and Raytheon, ahead of European group EADS in seventh place, Italian company Finmeccanica in eighth, L-3 Communications in ninth and Thales of France in 10th position.
The biggest Russian group on the list, air defense systems maker Almaz-Antei, was No. 18 on the list.
In 2008, the 100 biggest defense groups had arms sales of US$385 billion, up 11 percent from the previous year, SIPRI said.
“This is more than three times the size of the total development aid of OECD countries in 2008,” SIPRI said, adding that such aid reached US$120 billion.
Putting the data in perspective, the think tank said that arms sales of Lockheed Martin alone topped US development aid by US$4 billion and that BAE Systems sales were greater than the GDP of 105 countries.
SIPRI’s ranking focuses on companies’ arms sales, which make up only 48 percent of Boeing’s turnover and 70 percent of Lockheed Martin’s revenues.
In BAE Systems’ case, arms sales make up a far larger share of its sales, with 95 percent of the total.
Born out of the merger of Marconi and British Aerospace in 1999, BAE Systems counts among its products the Eurofighter combat aircraft, the Bradley tank and the Astute submarine.
With 59 percent of BAE Systems’ sales coming from the vast US arms market, the group has major production operations in the country, as well as in Britain, Sweden, South Africa and Sweden.
“BAE really shows the increasing internationalization of the arms industry and the attractiveness of the US market,” SIPRI arms industry expert Susan Jackson said.
The group has benefitted from sales of mine-resistant, ambush-protected vehicles to the US government for the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.
South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol yesterday declared emergency martial law, accusing the opposition of being “anti-state forces intent on overthrowing the regime” amid parliamentary wrangling over a budget bill. “To safeguard a liberal South Korea from the threats posed by North Korea’s communist forces and to eliminate anti-state elements plundering people’s freedom and happiness, I hereby declare emergency martial law,” Yoon said in a live televised address to the nation. “With no regard for the livelihoods of the people, the opposition party has paralysed governance solely for the sake of impeachments, special investigations, and shielding their leader from justice,” he
The Mainland Affairs Council and lawmakers yesterday accused a visiting Chinese university student of denigrating Taiwan’s sovereignty by referring to the national baseball team that won a first-ever Premier12 title as “China, Taipei team” (中國台北隊). “We deeply regret the Chinese student’s words, that have hurt the feelings of Taiwanese... The Ma Ying-jeou Foundation, as the organizers, should remind group members not to use inappropriate words and behavior,” a council statement said. “We hope these young Chinese can accurately observe the true views of Taiwanese, which would be a positive development for interactions between young people on the two sides of the Taiwan
PHONE CALLS: Two US lawmakers told Lai about the US Congress’ bipartisan support for Taiwan to preserve its democracy and freedom, and for stronger bilateral ties US House of Representatives Speaker Mike Johnson said during a telephone call with President William Lai (賴清德) yesterday morning that recognition of Taiwan is at the core of the US’ Indo-Pacific strategy, Presidential Office spokesperson Karen Kuo (郭雅慧) said. The call marked the first time Lai had spoken directly with Johnson, of the Republican Party, since taking office in May. Lai also had a call with US House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries of the Democratic Party and a videoconference with Republican Senator Roger Wicker while in Guam, during a stopover on his way back from visiting the nation’s allies in the Pacific,
China is trying to set a "red line" for the incoming Trump administration and US allies by stepping up military activities in the region, a senior Taiwan security official said, including likely war games this weekend around Taiwan. China has held two rounds of war games around Taiwan so far this year, and its forces operate nearby on a daily basis. The official confirmed concerns expressed by other security officials in the region who have previously told Reuters that China could launch new drills to coincide with Taiwan President William Lai's (賴清德) trip to the Pacific this week which included visits to