Lockheed Martin Aeronautics

Lockheed Martin Aeronautics Company is a major unit of Lockheed Martin with headquarters at Fort Worth, Texas.

Lockheed Martin Aeronautics is also based in Marietta, Georgia and Palmdale, California. Palmdale is home to the Advanced Development Programs (ADP), informally known as the "Skunk Works". Various subassemblies are produced at locations in Florida, Mississippi, Pennsylvania and West Virginia.

The company draws upon the rich history of the former Lockheed and Martin Marietta corporations. While the formation of Lockheed Martin in 1995 was a merger of equals, by far the greatest contribution to Lockheed Martin Aeronautics was the product portfolio of Lockheed. This included the C-5, C-130 and C-141 transports as well as the F-2, F-16 (purchased from General Dynamics), F-117, F-22 and F-35 Lightning II.

The most important project by far to Lockheed Martin Aeronautics is the F-35 Lightning II (JSF). Worth a potential $200bn the initial order book is approximately 3,000 excluding almost guaranteed export orders. The F-22 air dominance fighter, while smaller in terms of aircraft ordered, is still of great importance to Lockheed Martin (and partner Boeing).

In January 2005, doubts have been expressed regarding procurement of two Lockheed Martin built aircraft — the C-130J and the F-22A. This is part of a wider spending review to reduce the federal deficit and offset the costs of the Iraq War. The Department of Defense has proposed canceling any further purchase of the C-130J to shave billions off the procurement budget. This would necessitate an upgrade of the C-130H fleet, a project which would also cost billions (though over an extended timescale). Cancellation of the USAF procurement would jeopardize the whole C-130J program, which could prevent Lockheed from capitalizing on the large foreign demand for tactical transports. The DOD has not yet suggested canceling the F-22A, but is arguing for reduced spending on the project. The crash of a production aircraft (worth almost $260m) on December 20 2004 will give ammunition to opponents of the project.

Lockheed Martin Aeronautics had revenues of just over $1 billion and employed 27,000 personnel in 2003.

Products

*C-130 Hercules
First developed by the Lockheed Corporation in the 1950's, the Hercules is still produced today as the C-130J. The aircraft is produced at Lockheed Martin's Marietta, Georgia facility.
*C-141 StarLifter
First flown in 1963, the Starlifter is a strategic airlifter. The C-141 was produced at Marietta.
*C-5 Galaxy
The C-5 is the largest strategic airlifter in the USAF inventory and one of the largest aircraft in the world. The Galaxy was produced at Lockheed's Marietta facility and it is here that the current avionics and engine modernization programs are being undertaken.
*F-117 Nighthawk
The F-117 stealth aircraft is a product of Lockheed's Skunk Works. First flown in 1981, the aircraft has been put out of service in favor of the F-22.

*F-16 Fighting Falcon
The F-16, which made its maiden flight in December 1976, was first developed and produced by General Dynamics. In 1993, Lockheed Corporation acquired GD's Fort Worth division, the production center F-16.
*Mitsubishi F-2
Japanese version of the Lockheed Martin F-16 Fighting Falcon, heavily modified to Japan's requirements. Lockheed Martin Aeronautics acts as subcontractor to Mitsubishi Heavy Industries.
*F-35 Lightning II
Lockheed Martin (with partners BAE Systems and Northrop Grumman) won the contract to build the Joint Strike Fighter in 2001. With initial orders of approximately 3,000 aircraft, this is of major importance to Lockheed Martin.
*F-22 Raptor
The most advanced tactical fighter, the F-22 has been praised for its unparalleled performance and derided for its cost in equal measure.
*P-3 Orion
The current maritime patrol plane of many nations, but principally the US Navy. Lockheed submitted a remanufactured P-3 design as part of the Multimission Maritime Aircraft (MMA) competition, but lost to Boeing's 737 based design.
*S-3 Viking
The Viking is the US Navy's anti-submarine jet and also provides surveillance of surface shipping.

*T-50 Golden Eagle
The T-50 is an advanced jet trainer produced by a partnership of Lockheed Martin and Korea Aerospace Industries (KAI). The two companies have formed the T-50 International Company for export marketing.

*U-2
The U-2 is a single-seat, single-engine, high-altitude reconnaissance airplane which first flew in 1955.

External links

* [http://www.lockheedmartin.com/aeronautics/ Lockheed Martin Aeronautics: Homepage]
* [http://biz.yahoo.com/ic/135/135981.html Yahoo Finance: Profile]