Russia is world’s No. 2 arms producer

Think tank says country is second only to United States

A Swedish think tank said today that Russia has emerged as the world’s second-largest arms producer after the United States. Russia surpassed Britain, which had held that spot since 2002 and remains Western Europe’s No. 1 arms maker.

The Stockholm International Peace Research Institute said in its annual report on the world’s 100 biggest armaments groups that the combined arms sales of Russian companies amounted to $37.7 billion in 2017, an 8.5 percent rise from a year earlier. Russia’s sales accounted for 9.5 percent of a worldwide total of $398.2 billion.

The report includes both domestic and foreign sales around the globe, but doesn’t include Chinese companies because of unreliable statistics.

Siemon Wezeman, a senior researcher at the institute, said Russian producers of arms and weapon systems have been on a significant growth path since 2011. “This is in line with Russia’s increased spending on arms procurement to modernize its armed forces,” he said.

For the first time in the report’s history, a Russian company — the state-owned Almaz-Antey that makes advanced air defense systems among other things — was listed among the world’s top 10 weapons companies.

The report noted that Russia started an initiative to consolidate its arms industry in 2007, a process that is expected to be completed soon.

Overall, the U.S. continued to dominate the list with 42 companies accounting for 57 percent of total sales, including the world’s largest arms producer, Lockheed Martin Corp.