The United States has no peer when it comes to producing the means of warfare, according to a new worldwide ranking of corporate arms merchants.

Of the top half dozen weapons makers on earth, five of them are American, says the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI).

They are Lockheed Martin (ranked No. 1), Boeing (No. 2), Raytheon (No. 4), General Dynamics (No. 5) and Northrop Grumman (No. 6).

The only non-U.S. company in SIPRI’s top six is BAE Systems, based in the United Kingdom.

U.S. supremacy is on display in other ways in SIPRI’s top 100 arms makers listing.

Ten of the 13 biggest companies are also American. In addition to the five aforementioned U.S. businesses, there’s United Technologies (No. 8), L-3 Communications (No. 10), BAE Systems Inc. (the American subsidiary of the UK parent), SAIC (No. 12) and Huntington Ingalls Industries (No. 13).

There are another four American operations in the top 20 (Honeywell, Sikorsky, General Electric and Oshkosh Truck), and out of the full list of 100, 45 are in the U.S.

-Noel Brinkerhoff

To Learn More:

The SIPRI Top 100 Arms-producing and Military Services Companies in the World Excluding China, 2012 (Stockholm International Peace Research Institute)

The SIPRI Top 100 Arms-producing and Military Services Companies, 2012 (Stockholm International Peace Research Institute)

War is Wonderful…If You’re a Weapons Maker (by Noel Brinkerhoff, AllGov)