The world remains a dangerous place and the U.S. taking a leading role in defending it means the Defense Dept. budget will more often than not grow. This year it is expected to be some $817 billion.

The war in Ukraine, for example, has been a delicate balancing act, and would be a catalyst for growth itself for defense contractors as the country's military needed to be modernized, but it has also resulted in the depletion of many critical weapons systems here at home.

The U.S. is encouraging many global customers to ship their munitions to the war-torn country with a promise of new supplies to restock their own armories. So while defense spending doesn't always go up, there's a good argument to make that the next few years in particular will be very good for the industry, and the following pair of defense stocks are my top picks to buy now if you have $100 available to invest.

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Source Fool.com