Top 10 Defense Companies in the World in 2021 by R&D Expenditure

Airbus SE, Raytheon Technologies Corp, The Boeing Co, BAE Systems Plc, and Leonardo Spa are the top 5 defense companies in the world in 2021 by R&D expenditure. Comprehensively, the top 10 defense companies in the world had a total R&D expenditure of $19,271 million, where Airbus SE was the highest ($2,880 million), followed by Raytheon Technologies Corp ($2,732 million), and The Boeing Co ($2,249 million), while Thales SA was the lowest ($1,212 million). In terms of the geographical split, 4 out of the top 10 companies in the world are based in North America, while 5 companies are based in Europe, and the remaining 1 is based in Asia. They employed a total of 1,103,170 people in 2021. Netherlands-based Airbus SE Ltd is the leading defense company in the world (by R&D expenditure). The company reported revenues of $61,664 million for the fiscal year ended December 2021 (FY2021), an increase of 4.5% over FY2020, due to higher aircraft delivery volume. The company manufactures commercial aircraft, passenger aircraft, helicopters, corporate jets, unmanned aerial systems, and freighter aircraft. Airbus is also involved in offering special mission aircraft dedicated to specialized military and security tasks, medium and light military transport aircraft, and civil and parabolic helicopters. The company also designs and manufactures satellites, orbital infrastructure, and commercial launchers and provides space services. Airbus has business operations in 180 locations worldwide and distributes products through more than 12,000 direct suppliers. It employs 128,873 people. Raytheon Technologies Corp is one of the leading defense companies in the world (by R&D expenditure). The company reported revenues of $64,388 million for the fiscal year ended December 2021 (FY2021), an increase of 13.8% over FY2020. The company is a provider of advanced systems and services for commercial, military and government customers. As of December 2021, Raytheon Technologies operated more than 235 manufacturing facilities in nearly 30 countries. It had offices in another nine countries and employs 174,000 people.