[News Space=Reporter seungwon lee] Four Korean defense companies were named among the world's top 100 defense sales companies.

In particular, Korean (4 companies) and Japanese (5 companies) companies led the increase in defense sales in the Asia-Oceania region. The background is analyzed to be due to demand in Europe related to the war in Ukraine.

The Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) in Sweden announced on the 2nd that the '2023 SIPRI Top 100 arms-producing and military services companies in the world' were ranked as follows: Hanwha Group (24th), Korea Aerospace Industries (56th), LIG ​​Nex1 (76th), and Hyundai Rotem (87th).

The combined defense sales of the four companies amounted to $11 billion, up 39% year-on-year. With Hyundai Rotem entering the top 100 last year, the number increased by one compared to 2022.

Last year, Hanwha Group's defense sales were tallied at $5.71 billion (approximately KRW 8 trillion), up 52.7% year-on-year. It jumped from 42nd place in 2022 to 24th place in 2023. This is interpreted as the result of acquiring Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering last year and changing its name to Hanwha Ocean.

Korea Aerospace Industries (KAI) rose from 75th to 56th place. Its sales increased by 44.9% to about 2.29 billion dollars (about 3.2 trillion won). Hyundai Rotem rose from 105th to 87th place with a 44% increase to about 1.21 billion dollars (about 1.7 trillion won). LIG Nex1’s defense sales increased by 0.6% last year to 1.77 billion dollars (about 2.5 trillion won), but its ranking dropped from 69th to 76th.

These four companies accounted for only 1.7% of the total sales of the top 100 defense companies. However, their sales growth rate was 39%, the second highest after Russia (40%), and Japanese defense companies (5 companies) came in third with a 35% increase.

“The rapid increase in defense sales by Korean and Japanese companies reflects the bigger picture of military build-up in the region in response to heightened threat perception,” SIPRI analyzed, adding, “Korean companies are working to increase their share of the global arms market, including European demand related to the war in Ukraine.”

Five Japanese companies were included. They are Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (39th), Kawasaki Heavy Industries (65th), Fujitsu (71st), NEC (91st), and Mitsubishi Electric (96th). The combined defense sales of the five Japanese companies amounted to $10 billion, up 35% year-on-year. SIPRI said, “Domestic orders have surged due to Japan’s military buildup policy after 2022.”

The world's No. 1 is Lockheed Martin, and the 2nd to 5th places are RTX, Northrop Grumman, Boeing, and General Dynamics, with American companies sweeping the top 5. There were a whopping 41 American companies in the top 100. Of these, 30 companies saw their defense sales increase compared to the previous year. The sales of Lockheed Martin, the world's largest defense company, and RTX, No. 2, decreased compared to the previous year.

The second largest country in terms of sales was China (16%), followed by France and Russia, which each had 4%. Korea and Japan had sales shares of 1.6-1.7%.

The report explained that the size of the global defense industry market grew last year as the international situation fluctuated due to the Ukraine War and the Middle East conflict. The sales of weapons and military-related services by the world's top 100 companies reached $632 billion (approximately KRW 887.8 trillion) last year, up 4.2% from the previous year.

Meanwhile, the Japanese Nihon Keizai Shimbun evaluated the SIPRI announcement on the 2nd, saying, "Hanwha Group acquired Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering last year and expanded its corporate scale," and "with the addition of ships to its existing land-based weapons and aerospace businesses, it has become a comprehensive weapons manufacturer spanning land, sea, and air."

In addition, Nihon Keizai pointed out that South Korea has an advantage in producing land-based weapons because of North Korea, citing the adoption of K9 self-propelled howitzers by Australia and Poland. It also analyzed that South Korean defense companies are seeking to expand profits by responding to demands that cannot be fully handled by the U.S. and European powers.