Lockheed Martin

The merger of Lockheed and Martin Marietta, two aeroplane manufacturers, in 1995 created the company Lockheed Martin, who today, are best known for their production and development of high technology weapons and warplanes. In 2004, Lockheed Martin was ranked No. 135th on the Fortune Magazine’s list of the world’s 500 biggest corporations with $35.5 billion in revenue. According to Richard Girard:

"This figure places it among the top arms manufacturers in the United States along with Boeing ($52.55 billion in revenue 2004), Northrop Grumman (29.8 billion in revenue 2004), Raytheon ($20.2 billion in revenue 2004), and General Dynamics ($19.5 billion in 2005). These 5 corporations are perennially in the top 6 (British Company BAE is consistently ranked in the top 6) on the Defense News’ Top 100 leading international defense companies. Companies are ranked according to the amount of annual revenue from defense contracts. Lockheed Martin has been ranked 1st every year between 1999 and 2004. The total revenue from defense contracts of the big 5 US arms contractors in 2002 was $82.7 billion or 41.9% of the total revenue from defense contracts of the top 100 companies. The remaining 95 companies on the list received $114.6 billion in revenue from defense contracts. These statistics demonstrate how the consolidation of the arms industry after the cold war has resulted in a small group of multibillion dollar corporations based in the United States. The relationship between economic globalization, militarism, and security has become critical providing greater protection for corporations through a war economy. The move towards greater militarization came a decade after the end of the cold war, during which time the arms industry went through major changes".

Other Interests

Each year Lockheed Martin makes $17.5 billion from the US Department of Defense. In recent years Lockheed Martin have provided much more than military services and contracts to the American government, they have also been awarded huge contracts from a range of federal agencies including the Social Services Administration, The Department of Homeland Security, the Department of Energy, the Federal Aviation Administration, the US Postal Service, the Department of Transportation, The Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Census Bureau. The corporation also takes almost $6 billion a year in revenues from international customers. .

Political Connections

"I wrote the Republican Party's foreign policy platform." boasted Bruce Jackson, vice president of Lockheed Martin between 1993-2001, at the Republican Convention in 2000.

Lynne Cheney, wife of former Vice President Dick Cheney, served on Lockheed's board, taking home $120,000 dollars per year.

In 1997-98 alone, Lockheed spent $10.2 million lobbying U.S. politicians.

Lockheed Martin in the UK

Lockheed's UK operations include:

• New orders for the Joint Strike Fighter
• NATS sustainment
• Merlin
• London Underground
• UK Cooperative Engagement Capability [UKCEC]
• Metropolitan Police C3I
• Warship Electronic Chart Display and Information System [WECDIS]
• Battlegroup Command and Control Trainer [BC2T].

UK Board Members

• Ian Stopps Chief Executive
• Robert Coutts
• Robert Trice

Non-Executive Directors

• Lord John Patten
• Sir Anthony Cleaver
• Sir Jock Slater
• Ronald Christenson Vice President & Group Managing Director LMUK Integrated Systems
• Bob Johns Managing Director LMUK Transportation and Security Solutions
• Bill Freeman Managing Director LMUK Simulation, Training and Support
• Bill Haight Managing Director Atomic Weapons Establishment plc
• Andy Robertson Managing Director LMUK Distribution Technologies