Stockholm. The large arms manufacturers were not affected last year by the economic crisis caused by Covid-19, registering a new increase in their sales for the sixth consecutive year, according to a report published this Monday.
The turnover of the 100 most important groups in the defense sector in 2020 reached a new ceiling of 531,000 million dollars, of which more than 50% corresponded to US companies, according to the Stockholm International Peace Studies Institute (SIPRI) .
This amount represents an increase of 1.3% in one year in its sales of arms and services related to the military.
In the same period, the world economy fell by more than 3%, points out this organization based in Sweden, whose work is considered a global benchmark.
The turnover of this hundred weapons groups has increased steadily since 2015, accumulating a total of 17%, according to SIPRI.
Five American giants once again took the top spots globally: Lockheed-Martin (F-35 fighter jets, missiles) took first place with sales of $ 58.2 billion, followed by Raytheon Technologies – new number two after a merger – Boeing, Northrop Grumman and General Dynamics.
The Chinese companies Norinco (7th), Avic (8th) and CETC (9th) and the American L3Harris (10) complete the podium.
The virus did not impact the weapons.
Reference-www.eleconomista.com.mx