The combined revenue from the world's largest weapons manufacturers and defense-related companies climbed by close to 6 percent last year, reaching the highest level ever recorded, according to one of the major defense monitoring institutes. Revenues from the top 100 companies totaled $679 billion in 2024, the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) said in a new report released on Monday. This is a surge of 5.9 percent from 2023 in real terms, the research organization said.