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Reality Check on Aerospace Spending

By Keith Cowing
NASA Watch
February 20, 2018
Filed under
Reality Check on Aerospace Spending

Lockheed Martin got $35.2 billion from taxpayers last year. That’s more than many federal agencies., Washington Post
“Of Lockheed Martin’s $51 billion in sales last year, nearly 70 percent, or $35.2 billion, came from sales to the U.S. government. It’s a colossal figure, hard to comprehend. So think of it this way: Lockheed’s government sales are nearly what the Trump administration proposed for the State Department next year in its recently released spending plan. Or $15 billion more than all of NASA. Or about the gross domestic product of Bolivia. With a White House proposal to spend a massive amount on defense next year in what one consultant called an “eye-watering” budget for the defense industry, Lockheed, the world’s largest defense contractor, could get even more. … Boeing is in second place with annual sales of $26.5 billion in 2016, a year in which the top five defense contractors — including General Dynamics, Raytheon and Northrop Grumman — had total sales of nearly $110 billion to the U.S. government, according to federal procurement data. The five biggest defense contractors took in more money from the U.S. government than the next 30 companies combined.”

NASA Watch founder, Explorers Club Fellow, ex-NASA, Away Teams, Journalist, Space & Astrobiology, Lapsed climber.

12 responses to “Reality Check on Aerospace Spending”

  1. Keith Vauquelin says:
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    When I hear “old space”, this is the instant mental picture I have: https://uploads.disquscdn.c

    • Michael Spencer says:
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      I’m glad you posted this. Because I get a face palm moment every time I hear NASA crow about how they’ve approached the space bathroom issue. (and no, I don’t have a better idea).

  2. ThomasLMatula says:
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    Which only puts it only at 56 on the Fortune 500, not even in the upper 10%. This ranks them far below Boeing ($95 billion, 24th) and below United Technologies ($58 billion, 50th) and they are way, way behind Walmart ($485 billion, 1st). Maybe they should get into another line of business 🙂

    If you want to dig deeper on Lockheed Martin here is their 2016 annual report, the most recent posted.

    https://www.lockheedmartin….

    The F-35 sales seem to account for the bulk of the government revenue along with missile defense and upgrading legacy products like the F-22, F-16, C-130 and various rotary wing aircraft. Space Systems accounted for $9.4 billion, mostly from DOD projects.

    BTW 146 corporations in the United States have revenues more than NASA.

    • Chris says:
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      Then a story pops up a drone that could travel hundreds of miles remotely, switch between users, and was able to, during a demo, to shoot down said jet and cost much less.

  3. TheBrett says:
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    Reminds me of that semi-serious proposal to nationalize Lockheed-Martin. Most of its sales come from government contracts, it’s Too-Big-to-Fail, etc.

    • Paul451 says:
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      that semi-serious proposal

      Hey, I was deadly serious. 95% of revenue from the US govt. 3% from foreign govts. Just 2% from “commercial” sales. So they are already, in effect, a large government agency, but under private control. They have a myriad of critical and historical national security IP locked up which should be brought back in-house.

      • TheBrett says:
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        For the record, I support the proposal.

        I doubt they’re the only candidate in that regard, either.

        • Paul451 says:
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          I doubt they’re the only candidate in that regard, either.

          Lockheed is pretty unique. They are the number one US contractor by a factor of more than two. $36 billion/yr, compared to $16b/yr for Boeing in second place.

          The list is Lockheed… then air… then Boeing, General Dynamics, Raytheon, Northrop.

          (Only seven Federal US agencies receive more than Lockheed. All under much stricter oversight.)

          Lockheed are also extraordinarily dependent on US Govt funding, around 95% of their revenue.

          By contrast, Boeing is about 16%. GD and Northrop about 40%, Raytheon about half. I started going through the largest 100 US contractors and got bored long before I could find anyone worse than Raytheon’s 50%. There might be small companies that specialise in Govt services, but Lockheed are unique.

          Lockheed is effectively a large US government agency, under control of people who don’t answer to the US government.

      • objose says:
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        Wait. You people who complain about how wasteful NASA is, how little control there is, how inept NASA, a “Nationalized” operation is, now want the Gov’t to take over Lockheed.

  4. Donald Barker says:
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    And so the human propensity for war, destruction and violence moves ever forward. Never learning lessons from the past. While at the same time the resources and motivation behind enlightenment, education and species and planet saving advancement are ever diminished. NASA and NSF budgets remain well below 1% of the US budget. What will all this new proposing draw towards the military industrial complex budget, 20, 30 or 40% of the US budget. Its like the US is perpetually at war, and we wonder why our society is so violent.