The arms revenue of Turkish and Israeli arms producers grew in 2022, in contrast to many of their US and European counterparts whose revenues shrank, with Baykar — the Turkish manufacturer of Bayraktar drones — recording the largest increase among all top 100 arms sales companies.
The Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) released the top 100 ranking of arms producers and military services providers. In the Middle East, only seven companies from two countries — Israel and Turkey — made their way on the list, but seven companies’ combined revenue marked the largest revenue rise on a regional basis.
“The arms revenue of the seven companies in the top 100 based in the Middle East went up by 11% to $17.9 billion. This was the largest annual percentage increase in arms revenue when assessed by region,” the watchdog said.
Meanwhile, despite a sharp rise in demand after the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the combined revenues from arms sales and military services dropped by 3.5% in real terms over the previous year of 2021, totaling $597 billion in 2022, SIPRI said.
