US weapon manufacturers profits surged in 2022
The biggest clients and investors include Germany, which has ordered 35 F-35 Joint Strike Fighter airplanes for $8.4 billion, and Poland, which spent $6 billion on 250 M1 Abrams tanks.
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A High Mobility Artillery Rocket System, a weapon part of a US military package headed to Ukraine (AFP)
According to data released by the State Department on Wednesday, weapon manufacturers in the US made a great profit in 2022 due to the massive amount of arms sales to other countries - especially Ukraine.
As a result of the war in Ukraine and a rise of tensions between the US and China over Taiwan, arms sales skyrocketed from $35.8 billion in 2021 to $51.9 billion in 2022, and an even larger profit was seen due to direct weapon sales from US manufacturers, going from $103.4 billion in 2021 to $153.7 billion that same year.
The biggest clients include Germany, which has ordered 35 F-35 Joint Strike Fighter airplanes for $8.4 billion, and Poland, which spent $6 billion on 250 M1 Abrams tanks. Others include Spain, the UK and Bulgaria who recently joined NATO.
This comes just a week after the Biden administration announced a new military aid package to Ukraine worth $2.5 billion, this time to include Bradley infantry fighting vehicles and Stryker armored personnel carriers.
"This authorization.... is the Biden Administration’s thirtieth drawdown of equipment from DoD inventories for Ukraine since August 2021. It contains hundreds of armored vehicles, critical support for Ukraine’s air defense and other important capabilities," a statement issued by the Pentagon said.
It also includes eight Avenger air defense systems and ammunition for High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems (HIMARS) and National Advanced Surface-to-Air Missile Systems (NASAMS) previously provided by the US.
Read next: Latest US arms package for Ukraine includes Sea Sparrow missiles
Arming Asia
As for the China-Taiwan tensions, regional players also invested in US-manufactured weapons, such as Indonesia's purchase of 36 F-15ID fighter jets for $13.9 billion and Australia purchasing 40 Black Hawk helicopters for $1.95 billion. Other smaller investors include South Korea, who purchased weapons worth $790 million, and Japan who bought $588 million worth of weapons.
Taiwan was given a $1.1 billion weapons package by the Biden administration as an attempt to arm it against China.
To fund and power up their unjust war on Yemen, Saudi Arabia and the UAE both requested weaponry from the US for $3 billion and $2.2 billion respectively. However, the Biden administration stopped transferring weapons to Saudi Arabia following tensions in their relations.
Turning to the US for cover
Three of the largest US weapon manufacturers, Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman, and Raytheon made significant profits as a result.
Read more: Lockheed Martin earnings spike to $1.8Bln in 2022 Q3
Lockheed Martin, developer of fighter jet types F-16, F-22, and F-35, saw a 7.13% jump to $19 billion in 2022, while Northrop Grumman is anticipated to have an 11.8% profit growth as its financial reports are due to come out on Thursday.
Just in December, Germany paid $106 billion to purchase F-35 fighter jets from Lockheed Martin when weapon stocks were running low.
On the other hand, the maker of the Patriot Air Defense System, Raytheon, witnessed an increase of a whopping 18% amid Biden's vow to send the air defense system to Ukraine. Due to low stock in Europe as well, the US Department of Defense announced in September that it has given the Raytheon-Lockheed Martin Javelin Joint Venture a $311 million contract for 1,800 Javelin missiles to replenish stocks deployed to Ukraine.
