Business & Economics
SIPRI 2024 Report: Arms Sales Hit Record $679 B, Europe Surges as China Contracts
New SIPRI data show 2024 revenues for the world’s 100 largest defense firms rose 5.9 % year-on-year to an unprecedented $679 billion, with European suppliers driving most of the gain while Chinese companies registered a rare decline.
Focusing Facts
- European firms’ combined sales jumped 13 % to $151 billion, led by Czechoslovak Group’s 193 % spike to $3.6 billion.
- Eight Chinese producers’ revenues fell 10 % to $88.3 billion, pulling Asia-Oceania regional totals down 1.2 %.
- U.S. companies—39 of the Top-100—logged $334 billion, almost half the global total, despite persistent F-35 and Columbia-class cost overruns.
Context
Surges in armaments revenue tend to precede or accompany systemic power shifts: in 1938, global military outlays spiked 15 % as European states scrambled on the eve of World War II, and the early-1980s Reagan-era build-up added roughly 7 % of U.S. GDP to defense each year. The 2024 numbers echo those inflection points, suggesting the post-Cold-War ‘peace dividend’ (1990-1998) has decisively reversed. Two structural forces are visible: (1) a re-militarising Europe re-engineering its industrial base after decades of consolidation; (2) a fragmenting supply chain regime, with sanctions, mineral controls and corruption probes reshuffling who can actually deliver complex systems. China’s dip—driven not by demand but by an anti-graft purge—signals how governance shocks can stall a rising power’s military modernization even amid growing tensions over Taiwan. Over a 100-year horizon, whether this moment becomes 1913-style escalation or 1954-style deterrence race will hinge less on topline revenue than on states’ ability to translate spending into deployable capability and on political mechanisms to cap spirals. SIPRI’s dataset, while authoritative, relies on company self-reporting and omits many classified sales, so the real curve could be steeper—underscoring how opaque the new ‘age of rearmament’ already is.
Perspectives
Turkish media
Anadolu Ajansı, Hürriyet Daily News — The record-high arms revenues are proof that Türkiye is emerging as an influential defence power, with five home-grown companies now ranked among SIPRI’s global Top-100. National pride drives upbeat coverage that glosses over controversies surrounding Turkish weapons use abroad and sidesteps criticism of the wider arms build-up.
Pakistani outlets with a pro-China framing
GEO TV, SUCH TV — Surging global arms sales validate the battlefield effectiveness of Chinese technology, highlighted by claims that Pakistani pilots using Chinese gear downed six Indian jets, and show robust demand for non-Western suppliers. A strategic tilt toward Beijing prompts selective emphasis on Chinese ‘superiority’ and omits that Chinese firms actually lost market share, while casting India in a negative light.
Indian media critical of China
Swarajyamag, The Statesman — China stands out as the lone major loser in an otherwise booming arms market, as corruption probes slash its revenues while U.S. and European firms thrive. Rivalry with Beijing encourages spotlighting Chinese weakness and corruption to paint a picture of strategic decline, downplaying similar challenges elsewhere or India’s own defence hurdles.