List of defense contractors

A defense contractor is a business organization or individual that provides products or services to a military or intelligence department of a government. Products typically include military or civilian aircraft, ships, vehicles, weaponry, and electronic systems, while services can include logistics, technical support and training, communications support, and engineering support in cooperation with the government.

Security contractors do not generally provide direct support of military operations. Under the 1949 Geneva Conventions, military contractors engaged in direct support of military operations may be legitimate targets of military interrogation.

In the United States, defense contracting has taken an increasingly larger role. In 2009, the Department of Defense spent nearly $316 billion on contracts. Contractors have assumed a much larger on-the-ground presence during American conflicts: during the 1991 Gulf War the ratio of uniformed military to contractors was about 50 to 1, while during the first four years of the Iraq War the U.S. hired over 190,000 contractors, surpassing the total American military presence even during the 2007 Iraq surge and 23 times greater than other allied military personnel numbers. In Afghanistan, the presence of almost 100,000 contractors has resulted in a near 1-to-1 ratio with military personnel. The surge in spending on defense services contractors that began in 2001 came to a halt in 2009, leading to the Better Buying Power initiative of 2010. Costs of War Project found that from 2020-2024 $2.4 trillion of the $4.4 trillion (approximately 54%) of the Pentagons discretionary spending went to defense contractors. During that period over twice as much money was spent with five companies as on diplomacy and international assistance. In 2024, the industry saw record revenues.

List of companies

A defense contractor is a business organization or individual that provides products or services to a military or intelligence department of a government. Products typically include military or civilian aircraft, ships, vehicles, weaponry, and electronic systems, while services can include intelligence information, logistics, technical support and training, communications support, and engineering support in cooperation with the government.

Following is an incomplete list of defense contractors, based only on a list of the world's largest arms manufacturers and other military service companies, along with their countries of origin, published by the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute for 2023. The numbers are in millions of US dollars.

Rank	Country	Company name	Revenue from defense (US$ millions)	Total revenue (US$ millions)	% of total revenue from defense
1	United States	Lockheed Martin	60,810	67,570	90.0
2	United States	RTX Corporation	40,660	68,920	59.0
3	United States	Northrop Grumman	35,570	39,290	90.5
4	United States	Boeing	31,100	77,790	40.0
5	United States	General Dynamics	30,200	42,270	71.4
6	United Kingdom	BAE Systems	29,810	30,350	98.2
7	Russia	Rostec	21,730	33,430	65.0
8	China	Aviation Industry Corporation of China	20,850	83,430	25.0
9	China	Norinco	20,560	76,600	26.8
10	China	China Electronics Technology Group Corporation	16,050	55,990	28.7
11	United States	L3Harris	14,760	19,420	76.0
12	EU	Airbus	12,890	70,710	18.2
13	Italy	Leonardo	12,390	16,520	75.0
14	China	China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation	12,350	41,170	30.0
15	China	China State Shipbuilding Corporation	11,480	48,950	23.5
16	France	Thales Group	10,350	19,910	52.0
17	United States	Huntington Ingalls Industries	9,280	11,450	81.0
18	China	China Aerospace Science and Industry Corporation	8,850	27,640	32.0
19	United States	Leidos	8,730	15,440	56.5
20	United States	Booz Allen Hamilton	6,900	10,660	64.7
21	United States	Amentum	6,450	8,600	75.0
22	United Kingdom	Rolls-Royce Holdings	6,290	19,120	32.9
23	China	Aero Engine Corporation of China	5,780	-	-
24	South Korea	Hanwha Group	5,710	61,300	9.3
25	United States	CACI	5,700	7,660	74.4
26	Germany	Rheinmetall	5,480	7,750	70.7
27	Israel	Elbit Systems	5,380	5,980	90.0
28	China	China South Industries Group	5,130	43,930	11.7
29	United States	Honeywell	4,990	36,660	13.6
30	EU	MBDA	4,760	4,810	99.0
31	United States	General Electric	4,710	67,950	6.9
32	France	Naval Group	4,550	4,600	98.9
33	France	Safran	4,510	25,060	18.0
34	Israel	Israel Aerospace Industries	4,490	5,330	84.2
35	Sweden	Saab AB	4,360	4,850	89.9
36	United States	KBR	4,230	6,960	60.8
37	United States	Sandia National Laboratories	4,200	4,780	87.9
38	United Kingdom	Babcock International Group	4,030	5,450	73.9
39	Japan	Mitsubishi Heavy Industries	3,890	33,210	11.7
40	United States	Science Applications International Corporation	3,870	7,440	52.0
41	Russia	United Shipbuilding Corporation	3,770	4,710	80.0
42	Israel	Rafael Advanced Defense Systems	3,730	3,810	97.9
43	India	Hindustan Aeronautics	3,710	3,910	94.9
44	United States	Vectrus	3,410	3,960	86.1
45	EU	KNDS	3,340	3,510	95.2
46	France	Dassault Aviation	3,220	5,190	62.0
47	Taiwan	National Chung-Shan Institute of Science and Technology	3,220	3,360	95.8
48	United States	Bechtel	2,970	20,600	14.4
49	United States	Textron	2,940	13,680	21.5
50	France	French Alternative Energies and Atomic Energy Commission (CEA)	2,900	6,560	44.2

See also

• Arms industry
• Government contractor
• List of private military companies
• List of United States defense contractors
• Military–industrial complex
• Private intelligence agency
• Private military company

External links

• The British Library - finding information on the defence industry
• Private Security Transnational Enterprises in Colombia
• Human Rights First; Private Security Contractors at War: Ending the Culture of Impunity (2008)
• Defense Contracting Jobseekers FAQ