ARTICLES
Volume 39 No. 1 Winter - 2021
This article originally appeared on page four in the print version of Women Against Military Madness Newsletter Vol 39, No 1, 2021.
by WAMM Newsletter Committee
Question: Why do we accept referring to weapons manufacturing as “defense” spending when we know it’s offensive in every sense of the word? But just so everyone knows what we’re talking about, this is written in Pentagon-speak.
A newly released Pentagon report reveals breakdowns of defense spending in the United States in 2019. Lockheed received the most in defense contracts: $45.6 billion. Boeing was next at $25.7 billion, followed by Northrop: $19.5 billion, General Dynamics: $18.6 billion, and Raytheon: $15.7 billion. On January 14, 2021, Marcus Weisberger, of Defense One, which reports on the military industry, said to “look for this ranking to change next year: the newly merged Raytheon and United Technologies have a combined total of $26 billion.”
The report gives spending by state. California had the highest defense spending of any state: $66.2 billion, followed by Virginia at $60.3 billion, Texas at $54.8 billion, Florida at $29.8 billion, and Maryland at $26.1 billion.
Here is the breakdown, by Defense contractor, in Minnesota:
Minnesota top defense contractors ranked in recent (2019) Pentagon report (tinyurl.com/2kmarns)
for the new Washington, D.C. administration to address