The Lockheed Martin Corporation is an American aerospace, arms, defense, information security, and technology corporation with worldwide interests. It was formed by the merger of Lockheed Corporation with Martin Marietta in March 1995. It is headquartered in North Bethesda, Maryland, in the Washington, D.C. area. As of January 2022, Lockheed Martin employs approximately 115,000 employees worldwide, including about 60,000 engineers and scientists.
Lockheed Martin is one of the largest companies in the aerospace, military support, security, and technologies industry. It is the world's largest defense contractor by revenue for fiscal year 2014. In 2013, 78% of Lockheed Martin's revenues came from military sales; it topped the list of US federal government contractors and received nearly 10% of the funds paid out by the Pentagon. In 2009, US government contracts accounted for $38.4 billion (85%), foreign government contracts for $5.8 billion (13%), and commercial and other contracts for $900 million (2%).
Half of the corporation's annual sales are to the U.S. Department of Defense. Lockheed Martin is also a contractor for the U.S. Department of Energy and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA).
Lockheed Martin operates in four business segments: Aeronautics, Missiles and Fire Control (MFC), Rotary and Mission Systems (RMS), and Space. The company has received the Collier Trophy six times, including in 2001 for being part of developing the X-35/F-35B LiftFan Propulsion System and most recently in 2018 for the Automatic Ground Collision Avoidance System (Auto-GCAS). Lockheed Martin is currently developing the F-35 Lightning II and leads the international supply chain, leads the team for the development and implementation of technology solutions for the new USAF Space Fence (AFSSS replacement), and is the primary contractor for the development of the Orion command module. The company also invests in healthcare systems, renewable energy systems, intelligent energy distribution, and compact nuclear fusion.
History
1990s
Merger talks between Lockheed Corporation and Martin Marietta began in March 1994, with the companies announcing their $10 billion planned merger on August 30, 1994. The headquarters for the combined companies would be at Martin Marietta headquarters in North Bethesda, Maryland. The deal was finalized on March 15, 1995, when the two companies' shareholders approved the merger. The segments of the two companies not retained by the new company formed the basis for L-3 Communications, a mid-size defense contractor in its own right. Lockheed Martin also later spun off the materials company Martin Marietta Materials.
The company's executives received large bonuses directly from the government as a result of the merger. Norman R. Augustine, who was at the time CEO of Martin Marietta, received an $8.2 million bonus.
Both companies contributed important products to the new portfolio. Lockheed products included the Trident missile, P-3 Orion maritime patrol aircraft, U-2 and SR-71 Blackbird reconnaissance airplanes, F-117 Nighthawk, F-16 Fighting Falcon, 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.
On April 22, 1996, Lockheed Martin completed the acquisition of Loral Corporation's defense electronics and system integration businesses for $9.1 billion, the deal having been announced in January. The remainder of Loral became Loral Space & Communications. Lockheed Martin abandoned plans for an $8.3 billion merger with Northrop Grumman on July 16, 1998, 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.
For the Mars Climate Orbiter, Lockheed Martin incorrectly provided NASA with software using measurements in US Customary force units when metric units were expected; this resulted in the loss of the Orbiter at a cost of $125 million. The development of the spacecraft cost $193 million.
In addition to their military products, in the 1990s Lockheed Martin developed the texture mapping chip for the Sega Model 2 arcade system board and the entire graphics system for the Sega Model 3, which were used to power some of the most popular arcade games of the time.