Defense contractor

A defense contractor (or military contractor) is a business organization or individual that provides products or services to a military department of a government. Products typically include military aircraft, ships, vehicles, weaponry, and electronic systems. Services can include logistics, technical support and training communications support, and in some cases team-based engineering in cooperation with the government.

Military contractors do not generally provide direct support of military operations. Under 1949 Geneva Conventions military contractors engaged in direct support of military operations may be legitimate targets of military attacks. Compare to a private military contractor.

Defense contracting has expanded dramatically over the last decade, particularly in the United States, where in the last fiscal year the Department of Defense spent nearly $316 billion on contracts.[1] Contractors have also assumed a much larger on-the-ground presence during recent 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.[1] In Afghanistan, the presence of almost 100,000 contractors has resulted in a near 1 to 1 ratio with military personnel.[1]

Contents

List of notable defense contractors worldwide

See also: list of United States defense contractors, Top 100 US Federal Contractors, and arms industry
2009 rank 2008 rank 2007 rank Company (country) 2009 arms sales (US$ m.) 2008 arms sales (US$ m.) 2007 arms sales (US$ m.) Arms sales as share of company’s total sales (%),
1 2 3 Lockheed Martin 33430 29880 29400 70
2 1 2 BAE Systems 33250 32420 29860 95
3 3 1 Boeing 32300 29200 30480 48
4 4 4 Northrop Grumman 27000 26090 24600 77
5 5 5 General Dynamics 25590 22780 21520 78
6 6 6 Raytheon 21030 23080 19540 91
7 7 7 EADS 17900 15930 13100 28
8 8 9 Finmeccanica 13280 13020 9850 52
9 9 8 L-3 Communications 13010 12160 11240 82
10 11 11 United Technologies 11110 9980 8760 17
11 10 10 Thales Group 10200 10760 9350 58
12 12 12 SAIC 8030 7350 6250 73
13 14 13 Computer Sciences Corp. 6050 5710 5420 34
14 15 15 Honeywell 5380 5310 5020 15
15 13 16 KBR 4990 5730 5000 50
16 25 N SAFRAN 4740 3020 -- 26
17 16 19 ITT Corp. 4730 5170 3850 44
18 22 N General Electric 4700 3650 -- 3
19 17 17 Rolls-Royce 4140 4720 4580 28
20 19 25 AM General 3720 4040 2670 . .

[nb 1]

  1. ^ N = New to the SIPRI Top 100

Source: http://www.sipri.org/research/armaments/production/Top100 "Arms sales are defined by SIPRI as sales of military goods and services to military customers, including both domestic and export sales. Military goods and services are those which are designed specifically for military purposes."

See also

References

  1. ^ a b c Singer, Peter W. "The Regulation of New Warfare", The Brookings Institution, February 2010.

External links