Defense contractor

A defense contractor (sometimes called a military contractor) is a business organization or individual that provides products or services to a defense department of a government. While most defense contractors provide logistics, technical and training (e.g., warfare simulation), and communications support, few defense contractors are directly involved with weaponry.

**Top 10 Defense contractors 2004**
Rank	Name	Country	2003 Rank	Defense Revenue ($ million)	% of total revenue
1	Lockheed Martin	U.S.	1	$30,097	94.6
2	Boeing	U.S.	2	$27,360	54.2
3	Northrop Grumman	U.S.	5	$18,700	71.4
4	BAE Systems	U.K. (1)	4	$17,159	76.7
5	Raytheon	U.S.	3	$16,896	93.3
6	General Dynamics	U.S.	6	$12,782	76.9
7	Thales	France	7	$8,476	63.7
8	EADS	Netherlands (2)	8	$8,036	21.3
9	Finmeccanica	Italy	9	$5,895	54.3
10	United Technologies	U.S.	11	$5,300	17.1

U.S. defense sales now surpass U.K. defense sales, see subsidiary: BAE Systems North America
Incorporated in Netherlands, merger of French, German and Spanish aviation companies

Source: www.defensenews.com

Criticism

Due to the popularity of warfare, defense contractors are often unfairly mischaracterized as only arms dealers and weapons engineers; thus, the term "defense contractor" is sometimes negatively viewed as a result of political correctness.

Defense contractor

Criticism

See also