UK's BAE tops world arms sales
IRNA - Islamic Republic News Agency
London, April 13, IRNA -- Britain’s BAE has become first non-US company to top world arms sales, according to latest report by Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI).
BAE, which produces a wide range of weapons systems, including Eurofighter-Typhoon jets and Trident nuclear missile submarines, sold $32.4 billion of arms in 2008.
The record performance is higher than the 30 billion dollars sold by Lockheed Martin and was largely due to increased sales by its subsidiaries in the US, which account for more than half of its business.
In February, the British manufacturer agreed to pay $400m to the US in penalties for wrongdoing, after being embroiled in allegations of bribery and corruption, including over its multi-billion al-Yamaha arms deal with Saudi Arabia.
SIPRI said BAE’s arms sales alone were larger than the gross domestic product of 100 countries and Lockheed Martin’s were $4bn more than the US development assistance budget of 26 bnillion dollars.
Sales of the world's top 100 arms companies were calculated at being worth 385 billion in 2008, an increase of 39 billion dollars over the previous year. The total amount compares with $120bn spent on development aid by the world's major industrialized countries in the same year.
2220**345**2329
End News / IRNA / News Code 1051341
|
NEWSLETTER
|
| Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list |
|
|
|
