Company Overview

Lockheed Martin, formed by the merger of Lockheed and Martin Marietta in 1995, is the number one global security company. While it’s impossible to list everything that the company does, Lockheed Martin’s divisions are Aeronautics, where fighter jets and other planes are developed; Electronic Systems, which works on defense systems such as missile control, the Aegis system, and the Presidential helicopter; Information Systems and Global Services, which takes older computer systems and meshes them with newer technology; and Space Systems, which handles the building of rockets, satellites, and other top-secret sci-fi stuff.

Lockheed Martin's primary customer is the U.S. government, which accounts for approximately 85 percent of the company's sales. The company has benefited from recent military spending, and expects to remain stable. Lockheed Martin's products include the F-16, the F-22, the Trident II missile, and management services for some NASA space operations and Department of Energy sites. The company is also the prime contractor for the two most recent U.S. fighter jets, the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter and the F/A-22 Raptor and has been the largest provider of government information technology for the last 14 years. Some of the company’s other activities include ship and submarine combat systems, air-traffic control systems, and fire-control systems.

In recent years, the conflicts in Afghanistan and Iraq, as well as increased spending on homeland security, have heightened the demand for Lockheed’s products and programs. However, President Barack Obama’s election in 2008, brought looming military program cuts. In July 2009, the Senate vetoed a bill to build seven Lockheed Martin F-22 aircrafts. The President also threatened to veto any bill that continued building the plane beyond the 187 the administration approved. Obama and Defense Secretary Robert Gates are examining the Pentagon budget to set priorities for their spending.

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