Three Turkish firms rank among top 100 arms dealers

ISTANBUL

ASELSAN, Baykar and TUSAŞ ranked among the world’s top 100 arms-producing and military services companies in 2023, according to a report by the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI).

The three Turkish companies had combined arms revenues of $6 billion in 2023, a year-on-year increase of 24 percent, benefiting from exports prompted by the war in Ukraine and from the Turkish government’s continued push towards self-reliance in arms production, the report said.

Revenues of armed unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) maker Baykar, which climbed from the 79th spot in the list in 2022 to 69th last year, went up by 25 percent to $1.9 billion last year.

Exports accounted for around 90 percent of the company’s arms revenues in 2023, which stood at $2 billion, according to the report.

TUSAŞ, ranked 78th last year moving from 88th the spot in 2022, also increased its exports, which accounted for 31 percent of its total arms revenues of $1.7 billion in 2023. The company's total revenues amounted to $2.2 billion last year.

TUSAŞ recorded the largest year-on-year growth in arms revenues (45 percent) among Turkish companies in the Top 100.

Unlike the two other Turkish companies in the ranking, ASELSAN (ranked 54th in the list) derives only a small proportion of its arms revenues from exports, the report said.

Its 12 percent increase in arms revenues, to $2.4 billion in 2023, was therefore mainly the result of domestic demand spurred by Türkiye’s commitment to developing indigenously produced weapons, it said. ASELSAN’s total revenues were $2.56 billion last year.

Global arms sales surge

Sales of arms and military services by the world's 100 largest arms companies totaled $632 billion in 2023, up 4.2 percent, SIPRI said.

Sales by major arms makers were boosted last year by wars in Ukraine and Gaza and tensions in Asia, with marked increases for manufacturers based in Russia and the Middle East, according to the report.

Revenues had dipped in 2022 as global weapons makers struggled to meet the increase in demand, but many of them managed to increase production last year, authors of the report noted.

In a sign of this surge in demand, all 100 companies tracked achieved sales in excess of $1 billion last year for the first time.

Among the leading producers, U.S. companies recorded a 2.5 percent increase in their sales last year and still account for half the world's arms revenues, with 41 U.S. weapons producers in the world's top 100.

Lockheed Martin topped the list with arms revenues of $60.8 billion, followed by RTX with $40.6 billion. Northrop Grumman and Boeing ranked third and fourth at $35.6 billion and $31.1 billion, respectively.

With arms revenues at $30.2 billion, General Dynamics ranked fifth in the top 100 list.