This week saw the publication of one of the leading surveys of the world’s military corporations.
Put out by the US-based Defense News, it identifies and ranks the world’s 100 biggest arms companies, using a combination of its own research, the work of think tanks and some government departments, and data from the corporations themselves.
Where it is particularly useful is that it separates out military from non-military outputs. Airbus, for example, would be one of the world’s largest defence companies if its ranking combined military and civil aviation, but it doesn’t, meaning that it comes in at 15th rather than well into the top 10.
