Russia Now World's No. 2 Arms Producer - Think Tank

STOCKHOLM (Sputnik) - The arms sales of the Russian companies listed among the world's 100 largest arms manufacturers accounted for 9.5 percent of the hundred's total in 2017, making Russia world's second biggest arms producer after the United States, the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) said in a press release on Monday.

"The combined arms sales of Russian companies accounted for 9.5 per cent of the Top 100 total, making Russia the second largest arms producer in the Top 100 in 2017—a position that had been occupied by the United Kingdom since 2002. Taken together, the arms sales of the 10 Russian companies listed in the Top 100 increased by 8.5 per cent in 2017, to $37.7 billion," the press release said.

According to the SIPRI data, the US arms producing companies accounted for 57 percent of the total arms sales by the world's 100 largest arms manufacturers in 2017.

"Russian companies have experienced significant growth in their arms sales since 2011… This is in line with Russia’s increased spending on arms procurement to modernize its armed forces," Siemon Wezeman, the senior researcher with SIPRI’s Arms and Military Expenditure Programme, said as quoted in the press release.

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The total sales of the world's 100 biggest arms producers grew by 2.5 percent in 2017 compared to the previous year and totaled $398.2 billion.

According to SIPRI, the United Kingdom was the EU leader in terms of arms sales in 2017, with the country's arms sales having totaled $35.7 billion.

"Sales of the top 15 manufacturing companies listed in the Fortune Global 500 totalled $2311 billion in 2017. This is almost 10 times greater than the total arms sales of the top 15 arms producers ($231.6 billion) in 2017, and almost six times greater than the total combined arms sales of the Top 100 ($398.2 billion)," the press release read further.

The SIPRI, founded in 1966, is an independent think tank focused on research into conflicts, arms and arms control and disarmament.