ARM - Sales are doing well

The 100 largest arms manufacturers worldwide, excluding China, were sold for 401 billion dollars [293 billion] of material in 2009. This figure comes from a report released Feb. 21 by the International Institute for Peace Research (SIPRI). "Sales of the largest manufacturers of weapons have increased significantly [+ 8% compared to 2008] in a context of economic recession," writes the British daily The Guardian.

The defense group Lockheed Martin took over first place at BAE Systems in 2009 with sales of 33.4 billion against 33.3 billion. Europe is represented in the Top 100 by 33 groups from nine countries, whose combined sales totaled $ 120 billion, or 30% of the total.

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