Last year, the sale of arms and military services around the world was 4.6 percent higher than in 2017, totalling $420 billion, according to new data released by Sipri. American companies accounted for $246 billion of that total.U.S. companies were driven by major consolidations with both Northrop Grumman and General Dynamics making multibillion-dollar acquisitions in 2018. Lockheed Martin retained its place at the top of the biggest arms-producing companies with $47.26 billion in sales. Boeing's arms sales came to $29.15 billion last year while Northrop Grumman came third with $26.19 billion.Out of the ten largest arms manufacturers, five are American and BAE systems is the first-non U.S. company on the list. Known for producing the Royal Navy's new aircraft carriers as well as the Eurofighter Typhoon combat aircraft , it comes sixth on the list in 2018 with sales coming to $21.21 billion.