Arms Giants See Stocks Soar Following Syria Airstrikes Vote

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The weapons and armaments industry is one sector that always does well during times of war.

The share prices of Europe’s largest weapons manufacturers have all jumped following the UK decision on Wednesday night to join the bombing campaign in Syria.

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Common Space reports that stock values at BAE Systems, Airbus, Finmeccanica and Thales all soared as trading began on Thursday morning.

RT reports: It comes as Britain prepares to spend millions more on its war with IS, and as an international collaboration against the terror group looks ever more likely.

BAE Systems leapt four points at the start of trading on Thursday. The jump comes as the arms trader’s value increased by 14 percent following the terror attacks in Paris which left 130 dead and over 300 injured.

Britain announced it is boosting its military spending and introducing a range of new security measures in the wake of the Paris attacks.

Aircraft firm Airbus, which develops the British Typhoon fighter jet, is also trading 1.5 percent up since the stock market opened on Thursday.

Italian arms dealer Finmeccanica has also seen its shares rise by 2 percent.

Andrew Smith of Campaign Against Arms Trade told CommonSpace that arms companies are cashing in on the bloodshed.

“Unfortunately, where most of us see war and destruction, the arms companies see a business opportunity. It is conflict and military intervention that fuel arms sales, and companies like BAE are only too happy to cash in from it. These companies don’t care who uses their weapons or the damage they cause, the only thing they care about is profit.”

Prime Minister David Cameron warned on Thursday that British military action in Syria will be complex and take a long time.