The Global Defense Industry in One Chart

Marcus Lu
2025-05-29 10:41:00
www.visualcapitalist.com

See this visualization first on the Voronoi app.

The Global Defense Industry in One Chart

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Key Takeaways

This graphic breaks down the biggest publicly-traded defense companies by market capitalization, as of May 20, 2025
16 are located in the U.S., while 17 are based in Europe

Defense companies play an important role in shaping global security, supplying everything from fighter jets and missiles to advanced cyber systems.

In 2025, the valuations of major defense contractors have surged to record levels due to ongoing armed conflicts and rising tensions within NATO.

To identify the industries leaders, we break down the biggest defense companies in one chart, based on May 20, 2025 market capitalizations.

Data & Discussion

The numbers we used to create this treemap chart are listed below. Figures come from companiesmarketcap.com.

Note that in the graphic, companies below a minimum legible size have been rolled into “Other” categories.

Rank	Name	Country	Market Cap
1	RTX	U.S.	$183,266,000,000
2	Honeywell	U.S.	$144,771,000,000
3	Safran	France	$123,607,000,000
4	Lockheed Martin	U.S.	$111,483,000,000
5	Rheinmetall	Germany	$89,518,329,418
6	General Dynamics	U.S.	$75,572,264,960
7	BAE Systems	UK	$70,564,187,244
8	Northrop Grumman	U.S.	$68,596,084,736
9	Thales	France	$58,955,148,760
10	L3Harris Technologies	U.S.	$43,150,876,672
11	Hindustan Aeronautics	India	$37,942,824,678
12	Leonardo	Italy	$33,176,978,764
13	Bharat Electronics	India	$31,099,260,036
14	Kongsberg Gruppen	Norway	$28,884,905,211
15	Dassault Aviation	France	$27,114,808,696
16	SAAB AB	Sweden	$25,223,915,745
17	Elbit Systems	Israel	$18,196,529,152
18	Aselsan	Turkey	$15,544,538,007
19	Leonardo DRS	U.S.	$11,051,675,648
20	Hensoldt	Germany	$10,015,730,374
21	Huntington Ingalls Industries	U.S.	$8,947,299,328
22	AeroVironment	U.S.	$7,727,191,040
23	Bharat Dynamics	India	$7,708,044,319
24	Indra Sistemas	Spain	$6,592,652,413
25	LIG Nex1	S. Korea	$6,340,808,805
26	H&K AG	Germany	$6,134,213,802
27	Hanwha Systems	S. Korea	$6,010,522,454
28	Kratos Defense &Security Solutions	U.S.	$5,478,441,984
29	QinetiQ	UK	$3,198,837,952
30	Mercury Systems	U.S.	$2,871,227,648
31	VSE Corporation	U.S.	$2,713,311,488
32	NextVision Stabilized Systems	Israel	$2,251,239,069
33	V2X	U.S.	$1,531,628,672
34	MilDef Group	Sweden	$1,144,822,357
35	DroneShield	Australia	$684,961,926
36	Avon Protection	UK	$621,677,745
37	Red Cat Holdings	U.S.	$616,405,696
38	Sturm, Ruger & Co	U.S.	$604,919,744
39	TAT Technologies	Israel	$360,267,360
40	Lubawa	Poland	$344,283,596
41	AMMO	U.S.	$214,950,160
42	Civitanavi Systems	Italy	$203,943,037
43	NSE SA	France	$143,270,537
44	VEEM Ltd	Australia	$82,975,348

American companies account for over half of the total market cap shown in this graphic ($743 billion vs. $1.3 trillion), a byproduct of having the world’s largest military budget.

The World’s Three Biggest Defense Companies

The most valuable company in this list is RTX (NYSE: RTX) , which formed in 2020 through the merger of Raytheon Company and United Technologies Corporation.

RTX is renowned for its advanced missile systems, aircraft engines, and aerospace components. It was recently awarded a $1.2 billion contract to supply Germany with Patriot air and missile defense systems.

The next biggest defense company is Honeywell (NASDAQ: HON), which is a diversified manufacturing company. In 2026, Honeywell will be splitting up into three separate businesses spanning automation, aerospace, and advanced materials.

In October 2024, Honeywell was awarded a $103 million contract by the U.S. Army to develop a next-gen radar system.

Rounding out the top three is France’s Safran (EPA: SAF), the most valuable defense company outside the United States.

Safran specializes in aircraft engines and components, as well as advanced navigation systems. In April 2025, Safran announced the grand opening of its new U.S. headquarters in Virginia, establishing a strategic hub to enhance support for American defense and space initiatives.

Learn More on the Voronoi App

Check out the world’s 50 most valuable companies in this similar graphic on Voronoi, the new app from Visual Capitalist.

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