Report | Creating Resilience
Greater Los Angeles Aerospace & Defense Report Q1 2025
May 13, 2025 10 Minute Read
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- Global military expenditure rose for the tenth consecutive year in 2024 to surpass $2.7 trillion. The 9.4% global defense spending increase in 2024 from 2023 was the largest year-over-year growth since at least 1988, according to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute.
- Los Angeles County companies received $315 million in direct DARPA funding in FY 2024—more than any other county in the nation and 16% of all funding nationwide. Only Fairfax County in Virginia came reasonably close at $261 million.
- Los Angeles County’s aerospace product and parts manufacturing industry employed 45,200 workers as of December 2024. Worker headcount increased by 3.4% over the past 5 years and by 9.2% over the past 10 years.