World’s Largest Radar and Electronic Warfare Manufacturers: Portfolios, Orders and Segments Compared (2026)
Modern war’s invisible front runs through the electromagnetic spectrum: whoever sees farther and blinds the other side first holds the advantage. The table of the world’s largest radar and electronic warfare manufacturers is led by America’s RTX, Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman and L3Harris, Europe’s Thales, Leonardo, Saab and Hensoldt, and Israel’s IAI/Elta. Türkiye’s ASELSAN belongs to this league’s widest-portfolio players — land, naval, fighter AESA, early warning, fire control and the KORAL electronic warfare family under one roof — and, at 24 percent, to its fastest growers. This is file seven of Envanter Medya’s Global Defense Industry Research, following the world’s largest air defense manufacturers.
Editorial note: This ranking is an editorial research piece prepared by Envanter Medya using publicly available data; it is not an official international ranking. Sources and methodology are explained at the end.
The research at a glance
“Largest” by which measure?
The radar market splits into ground surveillance, air defense radar, fighter AESA, naval radar, early warning and fire control; electronic warfare — jamming, interception and deception — is its own discipline. What makes a company “biggest” changes by segment: Northrop builds the F-35’s AESA, Thales and Hensoldt are the eyes of European air defense, RTX makes the US Navy’s new backbone radar. This study assesses each maker within its segments and merges the picture only in the composite index.
By defense revenue: the electronics giants’ league
Source: SIPRI Top 100 (December 2025). Only part of each group’s revenue comes from radar/EW. Hensoldt guides toward ~€2.75bn 2025 revenue on a €7bn+ backlog. ASELSAN ranks 47th, up 24 percent.
Do not confuse revenue with portfolio: a key measure in radar/EW is how many segments a company can develop products in. Huge revenue can come from a single niche; a full portfolio is what buys a country electronic independence.
Segment by segment: the verified indicators
| Company | Country | Key products | Verified indicator | Data type |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| RTX (Raytheon) | USA | SPY-6, APG-79/82, EW suites | Sole builder of the US Navy’s next-gen SPY-6 backbone radar; widest US AESA base | O |
| Thales | France | Ground Master family, SMART-L, Sea Fire | Ground Master radars serve numerous countries inside and outside NATO; GM200s delivered to Ukraine | O / E |
| Lockheed Martin | USA | TPY-4, Sentinel A4 | Builder of the next-gen TPY-4 long-range radar for Norway and the US | O |
| Leonardo | Italy | Kronos, Osprey, BriteCloud | Kronos is SAMP/T NG’s radar; Osprey AESA flies on 10+ platforms | O / E |
| Northrop Grumman | USA | APG-81/85 (F-35), APG-83, G/ATOR | Maker of the F-35 and F-16 AESA radars — an installed base of thousands of aircraft | O |
| L3Harris | USA | EW suites, SIGINT | One of the largest pure players in US electronic warfare; Viper Shield F-16 EW suite with export customers | O / E |
| Saab | Sweden | GlobalEye, Giraffe, Arexis | GlobalEye production tripling by 2030; NATO and Canada selections announced | O |
| ASELSAN 🇹🇷 | Türkiye | EIRS, KALKAN, CENK, KAAN AESA (joint), KORAL, SANCAK | Indigenous serial products in all six segments — land, air defense, naval (CENK AESA), fighter radar (KAAN’s AESA with TÜBİTAK), early warning (EIRS) and fire control; KORAL EW family in service; the radar layer of the $2.8bn Steel Dome pipeline | O |
| Hensoldt | Germany | TRML-4D, Twinvis | TRML-4D serves as IRIS-T SLM’s radar across Europe and Ukraine; backlog above €7bn, output expanding at a new Ulm site | O |
| IAI / Elta | Israel | EL/M-2084, EL/M-2052 | The multi-mission EL/M-2084 is Iron Dome’s eye; broad export base | O / E |
Data type: O = official/company statement, E = credible industry estimate. Chinese (CETC) and Russian (KRET) makers publish no reliable data and are excluded (U).
The Envanter Medya composite index: EM-GDPI
Editorial composite of nine weighted criteria; not an official ranking. CETC and KRET unscored for lack of data. Turkish company highlighted.
RTX leads on scale and depth from SPY-6 to its AESA families; Thales is second on the world’s widest ground-radar export base. The striking feature of this top ten is how tight it is — only 3.5 points separate fourth from ninth, a sign of a genuinely multipolar market. What puts ASELSAN eighth in that crowded band is not depth in one niche but indigenous products across all six segments; sharing a score band with Saab and Hensoldt is itself a threshold crossed.
Where does Türkiye stand? ASELSAN’s six fronts
ASELSAN’s radar story is six fronts, not one product: mobile land surveillance radars; the Steel Dome’s ALP and KALKAN air defense radars; the CENK AESA aboard Türkiye’s national frigates; the KAAN fighter’s AESA nose radar developed with TÜBİTAK; the EIRS early warning radar; and fire control from KORKUT to SİPER. In electronic warfare, the land-based KORAL jamming family is in service, with SANCAK and shipboard EW suites in the same chain. The radar and command layer of the $2.8 billion Steel Dome pipeline sits entirely with ASELSAN.
The honest reverse view: ASELSAN’s independent radar export base is still far from Thales’s dozens-of-countries Ground Master network or Elta’s export history — Turkish radar/EW exports mostly ride on platform sales (ships, drones). Türkiye has no product in space-based SIGINT or strategic early warning, and GaN module production still depends on imports at the most advanced nodes. Supporting optimism: the six-segment portfolio, one of the group’s highest growth rates, and guaranteed domestic demand from the KAAN-MİLGEM-Steel Dome triangle.
How this research was prepared
Data year: revenues from SIPRI’s December 2025 release (2024); orders and programs from official announcements of January 2025 – August 2026. Scope: ten radar/EW groups; CETC and KRET excluded for lack of data. Currency: US dollars; Hensoldt in euros. Missing data: radar/EW segment revenues are mostly not disclosed separately; unit data limited — not estimated. EM-GDPI: nine criteria scored 0-10, weighted; relative and editorial.
| Company | Data reliability | Note |
|---|---|---|
| RTX, Lockheed, Northrop, Thales, Saab, Hensoldt, ASELSAN | A-B | Strong official program announcements; segment revenues partial |
| Leonardo, L3Harris, IAI/Elta | B | Reliable program data; volumes limited |
| CETC, KRET | D | No reliable data; excluded |
Frequently asked questions
Who is the world’s largest radar manufacturer?
RTX tops Envanter Medya’s composite index on SPY-6 and its AESA families; Thales holds the widest ground-radar export base.
Where does ASELSAN rank in radar?
Eighth in the EM-GDPI radar/EW index, in the same score band as Saab and Hensoldt — on the strength of indigenous products across six segments.
Who builds KAAN’s radar?
The Turkish fighter’s AESA nose radar is developed by ASELSAN with TÜBİTAK, on the same domestic GaN chain as the naval CENK AESA family.
What is KORAL?
ASELSAN’s land-based electronic warfare system for long-range radar jamming and deception, in Turkish service alongside the SANCAK and shipboard EW suites.
How big is Hensoldt’s backlog?
Above €7 billion — a company record. The TRML-4D serves as the radar of IRIS-T SLM batteries across Europe and Ukraine.
Which countries chose the GlobalEye?
The UAE and Sweden, followed by NATO (as AWACS successor) and Canada; Saab plans to triple production by 2030.
Who makes the F-35’s radar?
Northrop Grumman (APG-81/85), which also runs the F-16’s APG-83 AESA upgrades.
Who are the biggest electronic warfare companies?
L3Harris, RTX and BAE Systems in the US; Saab and Elettronica in Europe; ASELSAN (KORAL/SANCAK) in Türkiye.
Why are Chinese and Russian radar makers absent?
CETC and KRET disclose no production or export data; this research does not rank what cannot be verified. Browse systems in the Defense Atlas.
Sources and methodology notes
Principal sources:
- SIPRI Top 100 Fact Sheet (December 2025)
- Hensoldt 2025 results — record intake, €7bn+ backlog
- Janes — TRML-4D orders
- Saab official statements — GlobalEye tripling, NATO and Canada selections
- SSB/ASELSAN announcements — Steel Dome radar layer, CENK, EIRS and KORAL programs
- RTX, Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman and Thales official program pages — SPY-6, TPY-4, APG-83, Ground Master
Last updated: 15 August 2026. File eight of this series examines the world’s largest naval shipbuilders.
