Monday, August 9, 1999

Israel is sixth-largest arms producer in world

Six Israeli military industries have made it into the list of the world's 100 largest companies in revenues from weapons systems and military technology, according to a recent report by the American weekly Defense News. Only four other countries (the United States, Britain, France and Japan) had a larger number of companies in the top 100.

The six Israeli companies include Israel Aircraft Industries (ranked 30th), Rafael armaments development authority (53rd), Israel Military Industries (56th), Elbit Systems (64th), Tadiran (67th) and El-Op (83rd). The total production of all Israeli military industries in 1998 reached $3.2 billion, ranking Israel the sixth largest weapons producer in the world. If all of these Israeli industries merged, the giant company would rank ninth in the world, behind General Dynamics but ahead of Daimler Chrysler Aerospace.

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