STOCKHOLM, Dec. 10 (Xinhua) -- Companies based in the United States continued to dominate the Top 100 companies that sell arms and military services globally in 2017, a Swedish-based research institute said Monday.

In its latest report of global arms sales, the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) said that with 42 U.S. companies listed in Top 100 in 2017, their combined sales of arms and military services grew by 2.0 percent in 2017, to 226.6 billion U.S. dollars, which accounted for 57 per cent of total Top 100 arms sales, which totaled 398.2 billion U.S. dollars.

"U.S. companies directly benefit from the U.S. Department of Defense's ongoing demand for weapons," said Aude Fleurant, director of SIPRI's Arms and Military Expenditure Programme.

Five U.S. companies were listed in the top 10 in 2017. Lockheed Martin remained the world's largest arms producer in 2017, with arms sales of 44.9 billion U.S. dollars, the report said.

Meanwhile, Russia became the second largest arms producer in the Top 100 in 2017. With 10 Russian companies listed in the Top 100 list, their combined sales of arms and military services grew by 8.5 percent in 2017, to 37.7 billion U.S. dollars, which accounted for 9.5 percent of Top 100 total.

"Russian companies have experienced significant growth in their arms sales since 2011," said Siemon Wezeman, senior researcher with SIPRI's Arms and Military Expenditure Programme, "This is in line with Russia's increased spending on arms procurement to modernize its armed forces."

Headquartered in Stockholm, SIPRI's research covers international conflicts, armaments, arms control and disarmament.