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Lockheed Martin

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Lockheed Martin
Company typePublic (NYSE: LMT)
IndustryAerospace and defense
Founded1912 (in 1995, company took on current name)
HeadquartersHeadquarters in Bethesda, Maryland; locations in 45 U.S. states and 56 countries
Key people
Robert J. Stevens: Chairman, President, and Chief Executive Officer
ProductsATC systems, ballistic missiles, munitions, NMD elements, transport aircraft, fighter aircraft, radar, satellites, Atlas launch vehicles, NASA's Orion spacecraft, numerous others
RevenueIncrease$37.213 billion USD (2005), and a backlog of $74.825 billion USD.
8,348,000,000 United States dollar (2022) Edit this on Wikidata
5,732,000,000 United States dollar (2022) Edit this on Wikidata
Total assets50,710,000,000 United States dollar (2020) Edit this on Wikidata
Number of employees
140,000
Websitewww.lockheedmartin.com
For the former companies, see Lockheed and Martin Marietta.

Lockheed Martin (NYSE: LMT) is a leading multinational aerospace manufacturer and advanced technology company formed in 1995 by the merger of Lockheed Corporation with Martin Marietta. It is headquartered in Bethesda, Maryland, a community in Montgomery County, Maryland, and employs 140,000 people worldwide. Robert J. Stevens is the current Chairman, President, and Chief Executive Officer.

Lockheed Martin is the world's largest defense contractor (by revenue).[1] As of 2005, 95% of Lockheed Martin's revenues came from the United States Department of Defense, other U.S. federal government agencies, and foreign military customers.

A team led by prime contractor Lockheed Martin won the 2006 Collier Trophy for the development of the F-22 Raptor fighter jet.

History

Lockheed Martin was formed by a "merger of equals", both companies contributing important products to the new portfolio. Lockheed products included the Trident missile, P-3 Orion, F-16 Fighting Falcon (the production line being purchased from General Dynamics in 1993), F-22 Raptor, C-130 Hercules, A-4AR Fightinghawk and the DSCS-3 satellite. Martin Marietta products included Titan rockets, Sandia National Laboratories (management contract acquired in 1993), Space Shuttle External Tank, Viking 1 and Viking 2 landers, the Transfer Orbit Stage (under subcontract to Orbital Sciences Corporation) and various satellite models.

Lockheed Martin now comprises what were formerly over twelve customers through its merger and acquisition activities over the last several years. Lockheed Martin consists of units formerly known as General Dynamics Space Systems, Sanders, General Electric Aerospace, Goodyear Aerospace, Ford Aerospace, Xerox Aerospace and Defense, LTV Missile Systems, Unisys Defense, and Loral. Six defense-related companies not kept after the merger became the foundation for today's L-3 Communications, a mid-sized defense contractor. In addition, Martin Marietta's aggregates business was spun off as Martin Marietta Materials.

Shortly after the creation of the company Lockheed Martin acquired the majority of Loral Corporation's defense electronics and system integration businesses for $9.1 billion. The remainder of Loral became Loral Space & Communications.

In 1998, Lockheed Martin abandoned plans to merge with Northrop Grumman due to government concerns over the potential strength of the new group (Lockheed/Northrop would have had control of 25% of the Department of Defense's procurement budget).

In September 1999, the Mars Climate Orbiter smashed into the surface of Mars and was destroyed due to a failure to convert imperial measures of rocket thrust (pounds) to metric measures (newtons). Lockheed Martin, the prime contractor for the mission, measured the thruster firings in pounds, even though the National Aeronautics and Space Administration had requested metric measurements.[2] The $250 million dollar spacecraft burned up or broke apart in the Mars' atmosphere due to the error. Lockheed accepted blame for the demise of the craft after an investigation revealed that the Lockheed team incorrectly programmed the Mars Climate Orbiter with English units instead of metric units.

In 2000, Lockheed agreed to pay a $13 million settlement to the U.S. government for breaching the arms export control act. The company passed information to AsiaSat, of which a major shareholder is the Chinese government. According to the U.S. Department of State, the information given to AsiaSat may have helped China improve its missiles. In May 2000, Lockheed Martin sold Lockheed Martin Control Systems to BAE Systems. In November 2000, Lockheed completed the sale of its Aerospace Electronic Systems business to BAE Systems for $1.67 billion. This group encompassed Sanders Associates, Fairchild Systems, and Lockheed Martin Space Electronics & Communications.

In 2001 Lockheed Martin won the contract to build the F-35 Lightning II. This is the most important fighter aircraft procurement project since the F-16, with an initial order of 3,000 worth $200 billion before export orders.

In 2003, Lockheed Martin benefited from a U.S. Air Force decision to punish the Boeing Company for conducting industrial espionage against its rival. The USAF revoked $1 billion worth of contracts from Boeing and awarded them to Lockheed Martin. The company sued Boeing in 1998 for stealing documents related to a military contract.

On January 12, 2006, the U.S. Army pulled the plug on an $879 million Aerial Common Sensor contract with Lockheed Martin. The Army found that the weight of the Aerial Common Sensor electronics payload exceeded the Embraer 145 airframe, which was Lockheed's selected aircraft.

On May 12, 2006, The Washington Post reported that when Robert Stevens took control of Lockheed Martin in 2004, he faced the dilemma that within 10 years 100,000 of the about 130,000 Lockheed Martin employees would be retiring.[3]

On August 31, 2006, Lockheed Martin won a 3.9 billion dollar contract from NASA to design and build the CEV capsule, also known as the Orion, for the nation’s next spaceship for human flight, for the Ares I rocket in the Constellation Program.

C-130 Hercules; in production since the 1950s, now as the C-130J

On November 2 2006, the $154 million Mars Global Surveyor suffered a critical malfunction. It had completed its primary mission in 2001 and was on its third extended mission when it finally failed. NASA reported on April 13, 2007 that the malfunction was caused by a faulty command sent from Lockheed Martin Space Systems in Denver caused an onboard battery to overheat, eventually causing a loss of power. The spacecraft was lost when the power loss cut off communications with the orbiter.

On December 1, 2006 all of Lockheed Martin's commercial launch operations were transferred to the United Launch Alliance (ULA). This is a joint venture between Lockheed Martin and Boeing, first announced May 2, 2005.

On February 13, 2007 a New Mexico State Court found Sandia Corporation, a wholly owned subsidiary of Lockheed Martin, liable for $4.7 million in damages for the firing of a former network security analyst, Shawn Carpenter. Mr. Carpenter had reported to his supervisors that hundreds of military installations and defense contractors' networks were compromised and sensitive information was being stolen -- including hundreds of sensitive Lockheed documents on the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter project.

Corporate governance

Current members of the board of directors of Lockheed Martin are: Edward Aldridge, Nolan Archibald, Marcus Bennett, James O. Ellis, Gwendolyn King, James Loy, Douglas McCorkindale, Eugene Murphy, Joseph Ralston, Frank Savage, Anne Stevens, Robert J. Stevens, James Ukropina, and Douglas Yearley.

Divisions

Aeronautics

Lockheed Martin/BAE/Northrop Grumman X-35 (F-35 Prototype)
Submarine launch of a Lockheed Trident missile

Electronic Systems

Information Systems & Global Services

Space Systems

Others

Joint Ventures

Trivia

References

  1. ^ "Defense News Top 100." Defense News.
  2. ^ Mars Climate Orbiter Team Finds Likely Cause of Loss. nasa.gov. Retrieved on September 18, 2007.
  3. ^ Dutt, Jill. "Taking an Engineer's Approach at Lockheed Martin." Washington Post, May 1, 2006.[1]

See also

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