Despite the dominance of fixed-wing aircraft and related expenses atop the Pentagon spending lists at the mid-year point of 2008, the U.S. Army ranked the highest among the services in contract spending, according to an Aerospace Daily analysis of data provided by the National Institute for Computer-Assisted Reporting (NICAR).

The Army's position on the list would reflect, analysts say, the growing burden of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and related costs to the service. Army transactions tallied about $33 billion by the mid-year point, with an average of about $470,000 per contract or contract modification.

The U.S. Navy came in second with about $25.2 billion in transactions, for an average of about $331,000 per contract or modification. The Air Force trailed with about $16 billion, or $416,000 per transaction.

While the Army is not a major force in fixed-wing costs, the service was the lead for many of the other top Pentagon contracts and modifications, such as helicopters, tracked tactical vehicles and trucks, the analysis shows.

As would be expected, the big three defense contractors tallied the highest. Boeing came in first with about $9 billion, followed by Lockheed Martin with $7.4 billion and Northrop Grumman with $5.4 billion.

One surprise in the top 10 contractors is Sikorsky, with $3.1 billion, which apparently has moved up the ranks thanks to its work on Navy helicopter programs. The company is also one of the competitors vying for the U.S. Air Force's $15 billion combat, search and rescue (CSAR-X) program The other CSAR-X competitors are Boeing and Lockheed Martin, two major helicopter program contractors.

Although this may not come as a surprise, given rising fuel prices, other up-and-comers on the DOD contracting list include the Abu Dhabi National Oil Company For Distribution, which came in 12th with a single contract for about $918 million, and The Bahrain Petroleum Company, which came in 20th with three contracts worth about $537 million.