Israel’s three biggest defense companies - Elbit Systems, Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI) and Rafael Advanced Defense Systems - are ranked among the world’s top 34 defense companies for 2024, according to the latest report by the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI), which ranks the world’s biggest 100 defense companies.
The report found that the revenue of Israel’s three biggest defense companies combined grew 16% in 2024 to $16.2 billion.
The top Israeli company in the ranking is Elbit Systems which saw a 13.6% growth in defense revenue to $6.28 billion last year and rise from 27th to 25th in the SIPRI rankings. This put Elbit above large international companies like Sweden's Saab, France's Safran, and Europe's MBDA. IAI rose from 34th to 31st place, due to 12.6% revenue growth to $5.19 billion, ranking the Israeli company above France's Naval and Dassault, as well as the Emirati conglomerate Edge.
The Israeli company that made the highest jump in the ranking is Rafael, which climbed from 41st to 34th place. This followed a 22.7% increase in revenue to $4.7 billion, surpassing US company KBR and Europe’s KNDS.
From a regional perspective, for the first time ever, nine Middle Eastern companies entered the world’s 100 largest defense companies, with combined revenue of about $31 billion. Of these companies, eight provide reliable data, showing a 12% increase in revenue last year.
US giants Lockheed Martin, RTX (formerly Raytheon), and Northrop Grumman retain the top three positions in the rankings with the UK’s BAE Systems, the biggest non-US defense company in the rankings.
Published by Globes, Israel business news - en.globes.co.il - on December 1, 2025.
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