Weapons, ammunition and associated parts market in Europe: size, suppliers and public contracts
Market size and key facts
In 2025, public buyers in 30 European countries awarded 556 supply contracts for weapons, ammunition and associated parts through award notices on TED; the 271 of them that state a value (48.7%) add up to €1.34 billion, a floor rather than the full contract value. EU countries together imported €11.5 billion of goods in the customs headings matched to weapons, ammunition and associated parts in 2025 (Eurostat Comext, HS 9306, 9304, 9301, 9305, 9303 and 2 more headings; sum of national imports, trade between EU countries included; all buyers, not only public ones), up 73.5% from 2023.
- Since November 2023, 494 companies have won 1,554 public supply contracts for weapons, ammunition and associated parts in 30 European countries, in 791 award notices from 187 public buyers.
- 16.7% of these awards went to a company registered in a different country from the buyer; the most frequent foreign origin is Germany.
- The five companies that win most often hold 10.4% of all awards across Europe.
- 51.8% of the awards whose notice states the number of tenders received a single bid.
In proportion
All public purchasing in the EU-27 — general government spending on goods, services and investment, the measure the OECD and the European Commission use for public procurement — came to €2.93 trillion in 2025, 15.5% of GDP (Eurostat). Award notices on TED cover only the contracts above the EU thresholds, so they show who wins, not the whole of that spending.
General government spending on goods, services and investment for defence in the EU-27 came to €133 billion in 2024 (Eurostat, COFOG). How much of it reaches suppliers through tenders depends on how the country organises the sector — for example whether statutory health insurance is classified in government.
General government spending on goods, services and investment for public order and safety in the EU-27 came to €88.7 billion in 2024 (Eurostat, COFOG). How much of it reaches suppliers through tenders depends on how the country organises the sector — for example whether statutory health insurance is classified in government.
Source: Eurostat, government finance statistics (gov_10a_main, gov_10a_exp) and GDP (nama_10_gdp), retrieved 9 November 2026.
Updated · counted daily from contract award notices on TED and Eurostat international trade data · figures as JSON · free to quote with attribution (CC BY 4.0)
How to cite: Cresques, "Weapons, ammunition and associated parts market in Europe", https://cresques.com/markets/europe/353-weapons-ammunition-and-associated-parts, from TED contract award notices (© European Union) and Eurostat Comext, updated 13 November 2026. Licence: CC BY 4.0.
What industry and official reports say
- The European Defence Agency puts EU Member States' defence spending at €418 billion in 2025, 2.2% of GDP. European Defence Agency, Defence Data 2025-2026
- The European Defence Agency puts defence equipment procurement by EU Member States at €115 billion in 2025, up 26% in real terms. European Defence Agency, Defence Data 2025-2026
Figures from the publishers named, checked at the source on 9 November 2026. They measure the whole market (all buyers, different price bases and country scopes), so they are not comparable one-to-one with the public contract counts on this page.
CPV group 353 across the EU, Norway, Iceland and Liechtenstein: how much public buyers award, who wins, where from, and how the market splits by country.
The market in numbers
Public supply contracts in Europe: award notices published on TED from 2023-11 to 2026-11, by publication year.
- Contracts awarded
- 1.6K
- in 791 award notices
- Awarded value
- €4.9B
- from 51% of awards with a published value
- Winning companies
- 494
- with at least one award
- Public buyers
- 187
- hospitals, cities, agencies
Table view
| Nov–Dec 2023 | 11 |
| 2024 | 408 |
| 2025 | 556 |
| 2026 | 579 |
Table view
| Nov–Dec 2023 | €30.8M |
| 2024 | €406.9M |
| 2025 | €1.3B |
| 2026 | €3.1B |
- Other2
Table view
| Armed forces and defence agencies | 768 |
| Police, fire services and prisons | 583 |
| Cities, regions and central administration | 144 |
| Culture, sport and religion | 21 |
| Economic affairs | 16 |
| Universities, schools and research | 16 |
| Environment and waste | 2 |
| Electricity utilities | 2 |
| Other | 2 |
- Germany24458 companies
- Poland17043 companies
- Estonia166102 companies
- Spain16155 companies
- Czechia15125 companies
- Romania9710 companies
- Latvia9218 companies
- France7834 companies
- Portugal497 companies
- Belgium4118 companies
Table view
| Germany | 244 |
| Poland | 170 |
| Estonia | 166 |
| Spain | 161 |
| Czechia | 151 |
| Romania | 97 |
| Latvia | 92 |
| France | 78 |
| Portugal | 49 |
| Belgium | 41 |
- Large companies
- Medium-sized
- Small
- Micro
- SME (size not stated)
- Size not stated
Table view
| Large companies | 366 · 23.6% |
| Medium-sized | 72 · 4.6% |
| Small | 237 · 15.3% |
| Micro | 42 · 2.7% |
| SME (size not stated) | 270 · 17.4% |
| Size not stated | 567 · 36.5% |
- Germany34
- Italy31
- Czechia23
- Lithuania22
- France16
- Israel13
Table view
| Germany | 34 |
| Italy | 31 |
| Czechia | 23 |
| Lithuania | 22 |
| France | 16 |
| Israel | 13 |
Table view
| 2023 | €6.7B |
| 2024 | €9.5B |
| 2025 | €12B |
Imports: Eurostat Comext, customs headings 9306, 9304, 9301, 9305, 9303, 9302, 9307 (only headings whose trade is mainly this category); all buyers, not only public ones.
Awards to companies registered in the buyer's own country
83.3%
259 awards went to companies registered elsewhere.
Share of the 5 biggest winners
10.4%
Of all awards; a high share means a concentrated market.
Lots with a single bid
51.8%
Among 1.5K awards whose notice states the number of tenders.
How we count: one award per procedure, lot and winning company, from live contract award notices; a joint procurement counts on every buyer's market. Values are the awarded amounts published in the notice (framework ceilings and estimates are never added), converted to euro at the ECB yearly average. Company size is the SME flag of the notice (eForms BT-165). Read the methodology.
Companies winning most often across Europe
- 1.SIA "RAE LV"Latvia · 35 notices
- 2.CENZIN Sp. z o.o.Poland · 29 notices
- 3.UAB DefensaLithuania · 23 notices
- 4.Griffin Group S.A. DEFENCE sp.k.Poland · 21 notices
- 5.RWS GmbHGermany · 20 notices
- 6.RHEINMETALL EXPAL MUNITIONS SAUSpain · 18 notices
- 7.Sellier & Bellot a.s.Czechia · 18 notices
- 8.Thales Las France SASFrance · 18 notices
- 9.C.I.D Praha s.r.o.Czechia · 17 notices
- 10.Sellier & Bellot Int. a.s.Czechia · 17 notices
Companies with a public page whose main category is this group, by award notices; a market map in Cresques covers one country and, on paid plans, lists every winner there.
Country pages
Countries with fewer than 25 winning companies in this group have no separate page; their awards are counted above.
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Pick a country and see who wins there
A Cresques market map for one country and this category shows the companies that win these contracts there: how often, for how many buyers and for how much, and whether the leading ones are distributors or manufacturers.
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Questions
- How big is the weapons, ammunition and associated parts market in Europe?
- In 2025, public buyers in 30 European countries awarded 556 supply contracts for weapons, ammunition and associated parts through award notices on TED; the 271 of them that state a value (48.7%) add up to €1.34 billion, a floor rather than the full contract value. EU countries together imported €11.5 billion of goods in the customs headings matched to weapons, ammunition and associated parts in 2025 (Eurostat Comext, HS 9306, 9304, 9301, 9305, 9303 and 2 more headings; sum of national imports, trade between EU countries included; all buyers, not only public ones), up 73.5% from 2023.
- How many public contracts for weapons, ammunition and associated parts are awarded in Europe?
- Since November 2023 public buyers in 30 European countries awarded 1,554 supply contracts for weapons, ammunition and associated parts in 791 TED award notices; the 791 awards with a published value add up to €4.9B.
- Which countries buy the most weapons, ammunition and associated parts through public tenders?
- Germany (244 awards), Poland (170 awards), Estonia (166 awards) lead; 494 companies won at least one award across Europe.
- How often do foreign suppliers win weapons, ammunition and associated parts contracts?
- 16.7% of the awards went to a company registered in another country than the buyer; the most frequent foreign origin is Germany.
Source: contract award notices on TED — Tenders Electronic Daily (ted.europa.eu), © European Union, published since November 2023; processed by Cresques. Numbers updated 2026-11-13.