Lockheed Martin Corp. (LMT) has recently bagged an $853.3 million contract from the U.S. Navy for the Trident II missile production and deployed system support. Work is expected to be completed by Dec 30, 2013.   Manufactured by Lockheed Martin Space Systems in Sunnyvale, California, Trident II is a submarine variant ballistic missile. It is extensively used by the U.S. and the U.K. The addition of $853.3 million would boost the beleaguered backlog of the company, which shrunk to $76.4 billion after the first nine months of the fiscal 2009 from $80.9 billion at year-end fiscal 2008. The downside in order backlog came through the cancellation of quite a few high-cost platform programs in recent times. Prominent among them were TSAT Mission Operations System (TMOS) contract, F-22 Raptor program and the VH-71 Presidential Helicopter (VH-71) program.   Lockheed Martin remains a key player within the military space and ...

Lockheed Martin Corporation (LMT) yesterday bagged a $133 million contract from the U.S. Army to provide eight threat detection systems. The company will supply the systems over the next 11 months. The U.S. Army is already using nine such systems. Lockheed’s detection systems are equipped with multi-mission sensors to provide intelligence, surveillance, reconnaissance and communications to support coalition forces. 

In recent times, Lockheed Martin Corporation has witnessed the cancellation of quite a few prominent programs such as the TSAT Mission Operations System (TMOS) contract, F-22 Raptor program and the VH-71 Presidential Helicopter (VH-71) program. Lockheed Martin’s high-cost platform programs were the prime targets of the Obama administration for budget cuts. The addition of $133 million would boost the beleaguered backlog of the company, which shrunk to $79.2 billion after the first half of the fiscal 2009 from $80.9 billion at year-end fiscal 2008. 

Lockheed Martin remains …

Jet engine maker Pratt & Whitney said it plans to eliminate 1,000 jobs in Connecticut by 2011, transferring engine repair work to the Southeastern state of Georgia and Asia in a cost-cutting initiative.

This subsidiary of United Technologies Corp. (UTX) will close down its Cheshire, Connecticut, plant by early 2011. From the second quarter of 2010, it will begin shifting some operations from the East Hartford facility to Columbus, Georgia, Singapore and Japan. Pratt & Whitney, which is suffering due to sagging demand from airlines, employs 35,000 workers worldwide, with 11,000 in Connecticut.

The company rejected an offer that the Machinists union valued at more than $80 million in wage and other concessions and a state plan proposing $100 million in economic assistance over five years. Pratt & Whitney has vastly scaled back operations in the state since the 1960s, when more than 20,000 workers were employed.

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Lockheed Martin Corporation (LMT) bagged a $421.1 million contract from the U.S. Air Force for upgrading the Air Force’s command and control center, Weapon System Integrator. The company will provide systems engineering, integration, modernization, maintenance, management and contingency support. In recent times, Lockheed Martin has witnessed the cancellation of quite a few prominent programs such as the TSAT Mission Operations System (TMOS) contract, F-22 Raptor program and the VH-71 Presidential Helicopter (VH-71) program. Lockheed’s high-cost platform programs were the prime targets of the Obama Administration for budget cuts. The addition of $421.1 million would boost the beleaguered backlog of the company, which reduced to $79.2 billion after the first half of the fiscal 2009 from $80.9 billion after year-end fiscal 2008. Lockheed Martin remains a key player within the military space and continues to benefit from strong defense spending. The company’s customer base includes the ...

Lockheed Martin Corporation (LMT), the nation's largest defense contractor, unveiled yesterday the carrier variant of the F-35 fighter plane. The F-35 variant, known as F-35C Lightning II, is the first-ever stealth fighter added the U.S. Navy's arsenal.

Lockheed Martin is focusing on F-35 as its primary growth driver in the Aeronautics segment to offset the loss of F-22. The Senate recently voted to stop production of the F-22 plane, putting it as too advanced for the recent trend of low-intensity warfare.

Subsequent to the end of the second quarter of 2009, Lockheed Martin's Aeronautics segmental order backlog was $27.9 billion. The F-35 is slated to replace the F-16 and A-10 fleets. As per media reports, the Pentagon will have to procure about 3,000 F-35 variants over the coming decade for the purpose. The F-35 has three variants, of which two of them are land based differing on the take-off and

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Curtiss-Wright Corp. (CW), which makes products for motion and flow control applications, reported second-quarter results late yesterday. Earnings per share came in at 54 cents per share, edging past the consensus estimate by a penny. The Parsippany, NJ-based company caters to defense, commercial aerospace, power generation, oil and gas and general industrial markets through manufacturing facilities spread across the U.S., Canada and Europe. Curtiss-Wright stated that sales dipped 1.3% year over year to $447.4 million, missing the consensus forecast by 1.5%. Sales from Flow Control, contributing 54.1% of total quarterly revenue, expanded 2.2% to $242.4 million primarily driven by the acquisition of EST Group Inc. and Nu-Torque. Motion Control segment recorded a growth of 6.5% year over year to $155.7 million on higher organic sales especially in defense markets related to platforms such as the Bradley Fighting Vehicle, F-22, JSF, Global Hawk and various military helicopter ...

On Tuesday July 21, the Senate voted 58-40 and sent Lockheed Martin Corporation’s (LMT)) F-22 fighter to an early perdition. The air superiority fighters had entered the air force in 2005. The vote removed $1.75 billion set aside for seven more F-22s in the $680 billion 2010 defense bill.  The twin-engine F-22 Raptor fighter touted as the most advanced in the world was shelved primarily due to a lack of sophisticated planes to shoot at. Although advocates of F-22 put forward the Chinese and Russian menace, it looked too far fetched to convince the Senate and the White House.  The U.S. already has 187 of these Raptors. But the need of the day to tackle ground enemies dictates more low-cost F-35 Joint Strike Fighters and unmanned UAVs. The defense bill has thus allotted berth to 30 F-35s in the armory, which are also manufactured by Lockheed Martin. ...

Before the markets opened today, the Big Daddy among defense contractors, Lockheed Martin Corporation (LMT) reported second quarter earnings of $734 million or EPS of $1.88, as compared to earnings of $882 million or EPS of $2.15 in the year-ago quarter. Although EPS fell by $0.27 year-over-year, $0.19 is attributed to pension adjustments. Pension accounting adjustment negated $115 million from the quarter while in the year-ago quarter this adjustment added $32 million to earnings. The spike in pension liability was due to the lower value of the company retiree fund. However, the results still beat the consensus EPS estimate of $1.81 by a wide margin. On the revenue front, with $11.2 billion the company beat the year-ago result of $11 billion. This was in line with the consensus estimate of $11.14 billion.   The downside in EPS year-over-year came from higher pension liability coupled with lower earnings year-over-year ...

The giant toddler of the U.S. Defense Industry -- Lockheed Martin Corporation(LMT) -- can breathe easy for the moment -- things are looking up for F-22, the LMT fighter plane.The threat that Secretary Gates will send the F-22 program to an early perdition in 2010 is proving to be just another ruse.  Yesterday, both the U.S. House of Representatives and the Senate Armed Services Committee voted to keep the F-22 on its wings.While the U.S. House of Representatives reserved a berth for it in the $550.4 billion defense authorization bill for fiscal 2010 it approved, the members of the Senate Armed Services Committee approved their version of the 2010 defense authorization bill, which included $1.7 billion in funding for seven more F-22 fighters.This does not ensure all roses ahead for LMT, though. An extension of the lifeline of F-22 ...

By Guest Author: Adam Lass (www.taipanpublishinggroup.com)

Anyone who has ever flown on most any commercial airline is familiar with this scenario: Your plane is supposed to depart in the next few minutes. The big board says the flight is on time. The lady behind the counter is all smiles.

But you haven’t actually boarded or anything. In fact, as you squint out the window, you can see that there is no plane available to board, a fact that the oblivious clerk seems unable or unwilling to acknowledge.

Thirty minutes after your takeoff slot has come and gone, the ubiquitous screens that decorate the departure lounge’s walls suddenly blur, flicker and light up with the announcement that some flights may be delayed… by 10 minutes.

Airlines Crash and Burn

I’ve always wondered: Is this just wishful thinking? “Maybe pixies will make a plane appear!” Or more probably, “Maybe if we say nothing, no one will complain.”

When …