Lockheed Martin (the Lockheed Martin Corporation) is the world’s largest arms manufacturer and one of the major household names of the arms industry. Headquartered in the US, the company was formed in 1995 as a merger of two American aerospace manufacturers, the Lockheed Corporation and Martin Marietta. Its four business segments include: Aeronautics, Missiles and Fire Control (MFC), Rotary and Mission Systems (RMS) and Space.
Lockheed Martin reported 2024 sales worth US$ 71.04 billion. 40% of sales were in its Aeronautics segment, followed by its Rotary and Mission Systems segment (24.2%), its Missiles and Fire Control segment (17.7%), and its Space segment (17.4 %). Lockheed Martin also has a significant investment portfolio via Lockheed Martin Ventures, which has invested in over 120 companies around the world and maintains a US$ 400 million “evergreen fund.” Its current portfolio includes startup and established companies in the military technologies space, including drone technologies, AI, and cybersecurity.
It employs a workforce of 121,000 of which 93% is located in the US. The company reports that it has facilities in 350 locations globally. The majority of Lockheed Martin’s business is with the US Department of Defense and other federal US agencies, about 70% of its total business in 2018. Outside of the US, it reports working with global clients in 50 other countries. It has subsidiaries in Poland and the UK.
Lockheed Martin in the UK
Lockheed Martin has a nearly 80-year history in the UK and two active UK-listed subsidiaries: Lockheed Martin UK Limited and Lockheed Martin UK Ampthill Limited. The companies in the UK employ 20,000 workers.
Lockheed Martin’s UK companies support the production of the F-35 fighter jet. F-35s are widely used globally, include by Saudi Arabia in Yemen and by Israel in Gaza. Every F-35 is assembled with contributions from a range of military aviation companies globally through the F-35 stealth combat aircraft programme, notably Northrop Grumman, Leonardo, and BAE Systems. UK industry makes 15% of every the F-35 fighter jet; CAAT has calculated the value of UK components in Israel’s F-35s to be well over UK£ 500m.
Lockheed Martin’s facility in Ampthill, Bedfordshire supports Lockheed Martin’s Mission Support, Vehicle Systems and Special Projects work. At this site, the company assembles armoured vehicles, including the UK army’s AJAX vehicle, and its space portfolio.
The company’s UK branch has applied for export licences to the US, Kuwait, Qatar, the UAE, South Korea, Saudi Arabia, Israel, Turkey, Egypt and China. About half of the licenses applied for were in the technology and software export categories.
Aeronautics
Lockheed Martin produces some of the best-known of tactical aircrafts globally, the widely-sold F-16 and the F-35 fighter jets. It is the prime contractor on the F-35 stealth combat aircraft programme. The F-16 fighter jet has been used extensively globally. For example, the company reports the F-16s were “instrumental in intercepting Russian cruise missiles” in Ukraine in 2024. The US and Egyptian governments signed a deal to export 20 of these aircraft to the Egyptian air force in December 2009.
Lockheed Martin is in negotiations with Vietnamese and Thai officials to supply the F-16 as of 2025, Intelligence Online reports. In 2025, the US State Department approved it for export to Peru.
Among its transport aircraft offerings are transport heavy-lifting aircraft like the C-130 Hercules, used in 23 countries in 2024, including in Egypt which the company says has one of the largest C-130H fleets. It also makes the mammoth C-5 Galaxy, mostly used by the US military.
Lockheed Martin produces the F-22 Raptor and the AC-130J Ghostrider gunship, both used by the US Air Force extensively in its Middle East conflicts, the Black Hawk tactical helicopter, and the CH-53K and RAIDER X heavy lift helicopters. Its subsidiary Sikorsky Innovations, launched in 2013, develops technologies to assist helicopters and other rotary craft, including unmanned (drone) aircraft. The Sikorsky Training Academy provides pilot training courses and has trained pilots from countries including Brunei, Colombia, Morocco, Philippines, Saudi Arabia, and Turkey, among others.
Drones
Among Lockheed Martin’s current UAV (drone) offerings are the Indago 4 Tactical Quadcopter, a reconnaissance and surveillance drone, and the Stalker UAS, a long-endurance surveillance drone especially used by special forces which can also “precisely drop a small payload from the air”.
Missiles and weapons systems
Lockheed Martin produces a wide range of missiles, missile defence systems, and other weapons systems.
Its missiles include two household names, the Hellfire and the Trident missiles. The Hellfire has been used by US forces and its allies, notably the UK, in ‘war on terror’ frontline countries: Iraq, Afghanistan, Syria, Libya, and Somalia, according to various media reports cited above. They are also widely used on Predator and Reaper drones and have particularly been used in this way for assassination missions. The submarine-launched Trident missile is a fleet-ballistic missile manufactured by Lockheed Martin. It is one of the main elements in the strategic nuclear force of the USA and the UK. Atomic Weapons Establishment, a company that Lockheed Martin majority owns, has maintained and developed the missiles. The future of the ‘Trident programme’ has been a frequent political flashpoint in the UK for the ethical issues it raises as well as its high cost.
In terms of missile defence systems, Lockheed Martin’s most notable offering is the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD), a transportable defensive missile system for US and international customers. Among these customers is Israel, which the company reports used the system to defend against incoming missiles fired from Yemen. In February 2024, Lockheed Martin agreed a deal with two Saudi companies to manufacture of THAAD component parts, according to Intelligence Online. Lockheed Martin is also positioning itself to work on the proposed Golden Dome for America, a pet initiative of US President Trump to build a multi-layer missile defence system for the United States.
Space
Lockheed Martin has a business segment that develops space exploration and surveillance solutions. For example, the company is developing the US National Space Agency (NASA’s) Orion spacecraft, expected to launch in 2026. It is also developing the US’ weather satellite constellation, Geostationary Extended Observations (GeoXO), for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). The company was awarded a US$ 7 billion contract to develop the JP9102 military telecommunications satellite project for the Australian government, but the programme has since been cancelled, Intelligence Online reports.
Controversies
Saudi Arabia and Yemen
In 2017, Saudi Arabian company Saudi Arabian Military Industries (SAMI), backed by the Kingdom’s sovereign wealth fund, signed an MOU with Lockheed Martin to assemble 150 Lockheed Martin Blackhawk helicopters in Saudi Arabia.
Israel and the Palestinian territories
Lockheed Martin has long been deeply involved as a supplier to the Israeli Defence Force and collaborator with the Israeli defence industry. It has led an industrial collaboration program with about 40 Israeli companies since 2004, named the Peace Marble V programme. An example of results from the programme includes the inauguration of a production line for F-35 wing boxes at Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI), which would create approximately US$ 2.5 billion worth of wing skins for the jets, on contract with Lockheed Martin.
Apart from the F-16 and F-35 jets, Lockheed Martin has supplied the C-130J Super Hercules helicopter and a Multiple Launch Rocket System (MLRS) to the IDF. Israel is believed to have used a Lockheed Martin-supplied F-16 armed with Silver Sparrow air-to-ground ballistic missiles to strike Hamas officials in Doha in September 2025, Intelligence Online reports.
Lockheed Martin was named in a 2025 Amnesty International briefing as one of 15 American companies contributing to Israel’s unlawful occupation, genocide or other crimes under international law. It singled out the company’s supply and servicing of the Israeli F-16 and F-35 fighter jets that have been used extensively to bomb Gaza. Lockheed Martin’s investors have faced similar criticism since at least 2017. Palestine Solidarity Campaign has targeted the company’s UK production sites in Havant, near Portsmouth in 2025, and Palestine Action targeted the Ampthill site in 2023. Protestors have also blocked Lockheed Martin facilities in Texas in 2025, and students have demanded that several US universities divest from the company. Activists have made similar appeals at UK universities, such as at Glasgow University in 2020.
Corruption scandals
Because of its global prominence, Lockheed Martin has been implicated in corruption and bribery scandals globally, several of which are detailed below.
Lockheed Martin pleaded guilty before a US court to employing an Egyptian parliamentarian as an influence agent to assist in the sale of C-130H Hercules transport aircraft to the Egyptian government in the 1980s. Its predecessor company, Lockheed, was implicated in corrupt practices in countries including Japan, the Netherlands, Saudi Arabia from the 1950s to the 1970S. The US Senate which concluded in the mid-1970s that members of the Lockheed board had paid government officials abroad to guarantee contracts for its military aircraft.
Political influence
Lockheed Martin is a significant political donor in the US through its Lockheed Martin Political Action Committee (PAC). In 2024, the company spent US$ 12.67 million on political lobbying in the US. In the UK, Lockheed Martin with other companies contributed UK£ 60,000 to the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Defence Technology, which has since been shut down following a Declassified investigation into the group’s links to the Israeli government.
UK Census data scandal
In 2012, the UK government awarded Lockheed Martin a UK£ 150 million contract to process UK census data, sparking calls for boycotts, which led to the prosecution of a number of census refusers. Activists called for similar actions against another company with a significant defence business segment, Leidos, which held the 2021 census contract.
