Top 20 Global Defense Contractors by Market Capitalization

This chart ranks the largest global defense contractors by market value, while breaking them down by headquarters country and industry focus. The visual makes it clear that U.S. giants dominate the leaderboard, with firms like Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman, and RTX setting the pace. European players — notably BAE Systems (UK) — hold strong.

Key takeaway:

The defense industry’s market power is highly concentrated, with a handful of U.S. companies accounting for the majority of the total value.

Analysis:

• Dominance through scale & R&D — Leading firms leverage massive budgets, sustained government contracts, and decades of engineering expertise.
• Geopolitical clustering — The top 20 are almost entirely from the US and NATO countries, reflecting how defense innovation tracks global power blocs.
• Sector specialization — Naval, aerospace, and integrated systems companies tend to capture the largest valuations, while pure‑play land systems firms rank lower.