The ongoing conflicts in Ukraine and Gaza, coupled with rising tensions in Asia over Taiwan and Korea, are fueling an increase in defense spending. This has resulted in a boost for defense contractors like Lockheed Martin, RTX, and General Dynamics, who have seen a significant rise in their defense contracts.
This list of the Top 100 U.S. Department of Defense prime contractors is ranked by total contract funds awarded. According to USAspending.gov, the DoD had defense contract award obligations of $466.3 billion in FY23, up 10 percent from $424.3 billion in FY22. The top 100 FY23 contractors accounted for $290.0 billion (62 percent) of the obligated dollars, compared to $274.0 billion (65 percent) in FY22.
In FY23, the DoD’s share of available funding was $1.52 trillion, or 12.8 percent of the FY23 U.S. federal budget. This is a decrease of 7.3 percent compared to the DoD’s share of the U.S. federal budget for FY22 of $1.64 trillion, or 14.3 percent.
FY 23 Department of Defense Overview. – USASpending.gov
Data was sourced from USASpending.gov and compiled and processed by Forecast International. Please note: The awards listed below are from the DoD only; hence, totals will not match federal contract totals, which include awards by other government agencies. A 2023 Top 100 Contractors Report listing all federal agencies will be released in late 2024 on SAM.gov
2023 Compared to 2022
The list of the top 15 Department of Defense contractors with their 2023 rank compared to 2022 is detailed below.
| 2023 Rank |
Prime Contractor |
$ millions |
2022 Rank |
$ millions |
| 1. | LOCKHEED MARTIN CORP | 68,590 | 1 | 46,214 |
| 2. | RAYTHEON TECHNOLOGIES CORP (now RTX) | 27,820 | 3 | 26,131 |
| 3. | THE BOEING CO | 21,790 | 5 | 14,802 |
| 4. | GENERAL DYNAMICS CORP | 22,965 | 3 | 21,575 |
| 5. | NORTHROP GRUMMAN CORP | 15,094 | 6 | 13,767 |
| 6. | HUNTINGTON INGALLS INDUSTRIES INC | 9,130 | 9 | 5,358 |
| 7. | HUMANA INC | 7,780 | 7 | 7,740 |
| 8. | BAE SYSTEMS PLC | 7,530 | 10 | 5,089 |
| 9. | L3HARRIS TECHNOLOGIES INC | 6,373 | 8 | 6,748 |
| 10. | ATLANTIC DIVING SUPPLY INC | 4,424 | 12 | 3,044 |
| 11. | AMERISOURCEBERGEN | 4,392 | – | – |
| 12. | GENERAL ELECTRIC COMPANY | 3,845 | 16 | 2,542 |
| 13. | HEALTH NET FEDERAL SERVICES (Centene Subsidiary) | 3,601 | 15 | 3,550 |
| 14. | V2X | 3,146 | – | – |
| 15. | LEIDOS HOLDINGS INC | 2,919 | 11 | 4,081 |
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