General Electric (GE) is an American industrial conglomerate. Despite only 3% of its sales being in the military field, GE consistently ranks among the world’s largest arms companies in terms of turnover from its military activity. Headquartered in the Cincinnati, in the US, GE consists of three independent companies: GE Aerospace, GE Vernova (focused on energy), and GE Healthcare. We focus here on GE Aerospace, where the majority of GE’s military-oriented business is conducted.
GE Aerospace has its roots in the first World War, when the US government solicited General Electric, founded in 1892, to create the first airplane engine “booster” for the nascent aviation industry. Today it has two business segments, Commercial Engines & Services (CES) and Defense & Propulsion Technologies (DPT), the latter of which also contains its Propulsion & Additive Technologies (P&AT) business. CES and DPT essentially correspond to its civilian and defence business, respectively.
The company posted 2024 revenues of US$ 38.7 billion. The US military is GE Aerospace’s main military client; its reports that it powers two-thirds of all US military combat and helicopter fleets. Similarly, it reports that its engines power one-third of all Australian Defense Force platforms.
GE Aerospace employs 53,000 persons in 120 countries. The company has dozens of subsidiaries in the US and abroad including in Brazil, France, Ireland, Germany, Italy, Japan, Poland, Switzerland, and the UK, where its 2024 SEC filings listed 14 subsidiaries. GE Aerospace has more than 2,000 employees at its facility in Gloucestershire, where over 60% of its business is with defence and military customers.
Engine platforms for military aircraft
GE Aerospace reports that it produces combat engine platforms for military craft including the F110, F404, and F414 and the T700 and T408. With the US Army it is also developing a new T901 rotorcraft engine. The T901 engine supports the Boeing Apache and Sikorsky Black Hawk helicopters, widely used by the US military but also in service by South Korea, Israel, Colombia, the Netherlands, Japan, and Egypt.
The company’s T700/CT7 turboshaft family of engines powers a range of military helicopters, including: Leonardo AW149, Agusta Westland EH-101/AW-101, Sikorsky MH-60R/S Sea Hawk and Bell AH-1Z Viper.
The company’s F404 engine is used in India’s HAL Tejas Mk 1/1A fighter. Its F414 engine is found in military fighter aircraft in service including in the American, Swedish, South African, Hungarian, Czech, Brazilian, Thai and British air forces. GE Aerospace reports significant military business relationships in a number of other countries: Poland, Greece, and South Korea.
In the UK, GE Aviation companies supply power systems, avionics and propellers to the Royal Air Force. The company is involved in the Team Tempest program to develop a successor to the Typhoon fighter jet, alongside BAE Systems, Leonardo, Rolls Royce, and MBDA. The Tempests will join the RAF fleet in 2035.
Controversies
Israel and the Palestinian territories
GE engines power many of the military aircraft used by the Israeli Air Force in Gaza. These include, for example the Boeing F-15 and Lockheed Martin F-16 fighter jets. GE is also involved in a renewable energy project on Israeli-occupied Syran lands in the Golan Heights.
Poor business practices
In 2023, GE Aerospace agreed to pay US$ 9.4 million to settle federal government claims that it had sold potentially faulty parts to the US Army and Navy. GE Aerospace workers in plants supplying military parts in the US went on strike in 2025 to protest poor working conditions.
