science

Lockheed Martin

Lockheed Martin is a science topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Lockheed Martin rather than just read about it. In short: The Lockheed Martin Corporation is an American defense and aerospace manufacturer. It is headquartered in North Bethesda, Maryland, United States.

Key takeaways

Lockheed Martin belongs to science; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Lockheed Martin to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Lockheed Martin from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

The Lockheed Martin Corporation is an American defense and aerospace manufacturer. It is headquartered in North Bethesda, Maryland, United States. The company was formed by the merger of the Lockheed Corporation with Martin Marietta on March 15, 1995. Lockheed Martin operates 4 divisions: Lockheed Martin Aeronautics (39% of 2024 revenues); Lockheed Martin Missiles and Fire Control (18% of 2024 revenues); Lockheed Martin Rotary and Mission Systems (24% of 2024 revenues); and Lockheed Martin Space (18% of 2024 revenues). As of 2023, it is the top contractor of the United States federal government, and has been since at least 2008. As of 2024, 73% of the company's revenue came from the federal government, including 65% from the United States Department of Defense. In 2024, 26% of revenue was from sales of the F-35 fighter. Lockheed Martin is also a contractor for the U.S. Department of Energy and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). It also provides products and services to the Department of Defense and the Department of Energy to the Department of Agriculture and the Environmental Protection Agency. It is involved in surveillance and information processing for the CIA, the FBI, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), the National Security Agency (NSA), the Pentagon, the Census Bureau, and the Postal Service. 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 in 2018 for the Automatic Ground Collision Avoidance System (Auto-GCAS). Lockheed Martin currently produces the F-35 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.

2000s

… excerpt ends here. Continue reading the full article.

Illustrations

Lockheed Martin logo (2011–2022)

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Lockheed Martin

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Lockheed Martin claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In science, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Lockheed Martin before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Lockheed Martin ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Lockheed Martin

In research: Lockheed Martin appears in science research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Lockheed Martin in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Lockheed Martin is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics Aerospace companies of the United States, Aircraft manufacturers of the United States, American companies established in 1995, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Lockheed Martin outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Lockheed Martin in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Lockheed Martin means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Lockheed Martin out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Lockheed Martin in simple terms?

The Lockheed Martin Corporation is an American defense and aerospace manufacturer. It is headquartered in North Bethesda, Maryland, United States.

Why does Lockheed Martin matter?

Because it connects several science ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Lockheed Martin?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Lockheed Martin.