Stockholm (dpa) – Global arms sales increased in 2010 to 411 billion dollars, despite the global recession, with arms-producing groups in the US and Western Europe dominating sales, a Swedish-based research institute said Monday. Of the top 100 arms manufacturers, 44 were based in the United States, while 30 were based in Western Europe, the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) said. Lockheed Martin of the US kept the top spot, with sales of 35.7 billion, ahead of BAE Systems of Britain, followed by Boeing of the US in third place. 2010 is the last year for which SIPRI has full results. The top 10 arms groups accounted for well over half the sales, totaling 230 billion dollars, the think tank reported. Sales were resilient despite the financial crisis due to several factors, including the limited number of buyers – mainly governments – and the limited number of suppliers, as well as “long production runs,” SIPRI arms industry expert Susan Jackson said in an email to dpa. Missing from the list were firms in China, Jackson said, citing that “it has not been possible to include them because of lack of comparable and sufficiently accurate data.” This was also the case with some other countries, such as Kazakhstan and Ukraine, where data was not available, she said. Eight Russian firms were listed among the world's 100 largest arms manufacturers. Arms spending increased 1 per cent in real terms over 2009, and was up 60 per cent compared to 2002, when sales were 257 billion dollars – measured at 2010 prices and exchange rates, SIPRI said. SIPRI was created in 1966 by the Swedish parliament. The institute tracks military spending and conflicts, and publishes a yearbook with data. BM ShortURL: http://goo.gl/SkZ1r Tags: Arms, Sales, United States, Weapons Section: Europe, Latest News, North America
