Lockheed Martin profile
Lockheed Martin is a diversified defense prime with a compact UAS portfolio and a larger autonomy and mission-systems layer.
What Lockheed Martin does
Lockheed Martin builds small uncrewed aircraft, autonomy software, and mission systems within a much larger defense business. Its lineup is a good case study in why a company can be strategically important to drones without being a pure-play financial exposure.
The product lines that define the company for research purposes:
- Indago 4
- Stalker VXE30
- TIQUILA ISR program
- Northstar navigation
- VCSi mission control
- Strigo modular missile-technology product center
- Vectis collaborative combat aircraft
- Sikorsky MATRIX autonomy
- Sikorsky S-70UAS U-Hawk
- Sikorsky Nomad family
- Nomad 100 Fast Pack
This profile is qualitative by design. It carries no share price, no price target, no valuation multiple, and no rating — those change faster than any page can honestly track, and the filings linked below are the authoritative source for them.
Lockheed Martin drone lineup
Lockheed Martin’s public UAS catalog includes aircraft, autonomy, navigation, and mission-control products. Only aircraft are listed here.
| Offering | Type | Status | What it is |
|---|---|---|---|
| Indago 4 Official source | small uas | Active | Tactical reconnaissance quadcopter. |
| Stalker VXE30 Official source | tactical isr | Active | Low-signature Group 2 VTOL UAS. |
| TIQUILA Official source | tactical isr | In development | ISR service and system built around Stalker and Indago aircraft. |
Statuses are editorial classifications from the company’s current public catalog: active means currently presented for sale, delivery, or program work; development means publicly disclosed but not a mature production offering; legacy means retained for historical or installed-fleet coverage.
Recent contracts & awards
A dated log of the specific contracts, orders, funding, and deployments reported for Lockheed Martin, each tied to its primary source. This is a record of what was announced — a "selection", "award", or "partnership" is not the same as obligated money, so read each source before treating a figure as revenue. No figure appears here unless a source reported it.
- Pentagon and Lockheed Martin announce 10-year F-35 framework for at least 850 jets
The October 22, 2026 F-35 framework covers at least 850 US jets in production Lots 21 through 30, plus 10 years of sustainment and modification kits, Breaking Defense reports, while total output stays at 156 aircraft a year. Aerotime calls it "not yet a production contract."
Lockheed Martin says a formal award with pricing and schedules follows if Congress grants multiyear authority and matching appropriations. Neither chamber's fiscal year 2027 (FY2027) authorization bill has become law, and the House version would require a demonstrated cost saving of at least 5 percent.
No contract value is published. The Pentagon says Lockheed Martin will fund at least $7 billion in unspecified F-35 program initiatives. Like the AIM-260 framework above, this entry is a demand signal, not yet a production contract. See the defense stocks page for how this site separates frameworks from funded awards.
Breaking Defense: Pentagon, Lockheed agree to decade-long F-35 framework deal for hundreds of jets - Sikorsky unveils Nomad 100 Fast Pack containerized drone kit at AUSA
Lockheed Martin's Sikorsky introduced the Nomad 100 Fast Pack at the AUSA annual meeting, Defense News reported on October 12, 2026.
The kit fits four Group 3 Nomad 100 rotor-blown-wing drones, mission-command software, power, communications and sustainment gear into one 20-foot shipping container, with a planned configuration of two aircraft mission-ready in under 15 minutes and the other two within four to six hours.
This is a product launch, not an award: no value was reported, the source does not say whether a Fast Pack has been built or ordered by any service, and payload, range and endurance have not been released, so researchers should look for a DoD contract record or company filing before treating it as a program of record or revenue.
Defense News — original report - Pentagon and Lockheed Martin Sign Framework to Boost AIM-260 Production
On September 17, 2026, the Pentagon and Lockheed Martin signed a framework agreement to expand production capacity for the AIM-260 Joint Advanced Tactical Missile (JATM), a classified air-to-air weapon with public range estimates exceeding 120 miles designed to outrange China's PL-15 and replace the AIM-120 AMRAAM.
Described by Defense News as an unpriced demand signal rather than a funded procurement contract, the framework outlines no dollar value or production rate, though Lockheed Martin executive Tim Cahill stated Lockheed Martin will invest its own money to expand capacity in advance of any orders.
While the missile is operational on U.S. Navy F/A-18F Super Hornets and slated for fifth-generation fighters and Royal Australian Air Force aircraft, any future multiyear buy remains pending congressional authorization and funding.
Defense News: Pentagon, Lockheed sign framework deal to boost AIM-260 production - Lockheed Martin Unveils Full-Scale Model of Vectis Stealth Drone
Lockheed Martin revealed the first full-scale model of its Vectis autonomous stealth drone at the Air, Space & Cyber Conference, targeting a first flight in 2027 with four additional units planned for production. The uncrewed aircraft is designed for multi-mission operations alongside crewed fighters such as the F-35.
No specific development contract value or obligated customer funding was disclosed, so researchers should watch for formal military testing milestones and official U.S. or allied procurement awards.
Military drones — original report - Lockheed Martin funds four additional Vectis CCA prototypes
Lockheed Martin's Skunk Works will build four additional Vectis collaborative combat aircraft prototypes, expanding the planned test fleet to five airframes ahead of a targeted first flight by late 2027. The Group 5 uncrewed system is designed to fly autonomously or alongside crewed fighters such as the F-35 for intelligence, surveillance, and precision strike missions.
The expansion remains entirely company-funded, meaning Vectis does not yet hold Department of Defense program-of-record standing, contract obligations, or formal military procurement backing.
Defense News — Lockheed to build 4 more Vectis drones, 2027 first flight remains on target - Lockheed Martin Unveils MORFIUS X-Rotor Counter-Drone Platform and PAC-3 ACE Interceptor
Lockheed Martin introduced two new air defense systems, the MORFIUS X-Rotor airborne high-power microwave counter-UAS platform and the lower-cost PAC-3 Adapted Capability Effector (PAC-3 ACE) interceptor. The company indicated it is advancing prototype production and flight evaluations for the reusable counter-drone system following initial U.S. testing.
Researchers should treat this as a product launch rather than a contracted program of record, and monitor future DoD contract announcements to verify whether either system transitions to formal procurement.
Drone stocks — original report - Ukraine requests European Union funding for its first purchase of Lockheed Martin PAC-3 interceptors
Ukraine has asked the European Union to fund its first purchase of U.S.-made PAC-3 interceptors for Patriot air-defense batteries. The funding would draw from a €90 billion EU support package.
Because EU loan rules cap non-EU content at 35 percent, researchers should track whether regulators approve a formal exemption before treating this as a funded Lockheed Martin order.
Defense News — Ukraine asks EU to fund first PAC-3 Patriot buy - Navy awards 30 Medium Unmanned Surface Vessels across three vendors under novel marketplace model
The U.S. Navy announced contracts to Galliano Marine Services, Huntington Ingalls Industries, and Saronic Technologies for 10 Medium Unmanned Surface Vessels each, with Leidos, PacMar Technologies, and Sea Machines also qualifying for its unmanned systems marketplace. Lockheed Martin is not cited among the selected awardees or qualifying participants in the reported Phase I testing outcome.
Researchers tracking naval unmanned surface programs should review official Department of Defense contract records to confirm vendor selections and verify whether any non-prime subcontracting roles exist.
Breaking Defense — original report
Where Lockheed Martin sits in the value chain
Lockheed Martin is a defense contractor whose unmanned work sits inside a wider defense portfolio, so drone headlines are only one input into results and can be offset — in both directions — by unrelated segments.
Its disclosed activity spans aerial drones. That placement is the single most useful thing to fix in your head before reading any coverage, because the same headline means different things at different layers: a large platform award is transformative for a pure-play, material but diluted for a diversified contractor, and only indirectly relevant to a component supplier whose exposure arrives later as build-rate demand.
Retail coverage routinely applies one story to all three layers at once. For the layer-by-layer comparison across the sector, see the drone stocks research shortlist and the list of publicly traded drone companies.
Sikorsky's Uncrewed Programs
Beyond Indago, Stalker and Vectis, Lockheed Martin's uncrewed lineup includes Sikorsky's Nomad VTOL family, the cockpit-less U-Hawk cargo helicopter, and the MATRIX autonomy suite that powers both systems. Lockheed Martin bought Sikorsky Aircraft for $9.0 billion in November 2015 and now reports it inside the Rotary and Mission Systems segment.
Sikorsky Innovations developed MATRIX with DARPA, which chose it as the autonomy system for all five aircraft in its Early VTOL Aircraft Demonstration (EVADE) program. MATRIX is also installed on the U.S. Army's experimental, optionally piloted UH-60MX Black Hawk.
The S-70UAS U-Hawk replaces the cockpit of a divested UH-60L with forward clamshell doors and a ramp, so cargo loads through the nose. No U-Hawk first flight has been reported as of October 2026.
Sikorsky introduced the rotor-blown-wing Nomad family in October 2025, and the 18-foot-wingspan Nomad 100 had completed initial ground and flight testing under EVADE by July 2026. At the Association of the U.S. Army annual meeting on October 12, 2026, Sikorsky unveiled the Nomad 100 Fast Pack, a 20-foot shipping container holding four Nomad 100 aircraft. Sikorsky's planned Fast Pack configuration has two aircraft mission-ready in under 15 minutes.
Sikorsky's Ramsey Bentley told The War Zone that two unnamed EVADE-linked customers have placed initial Nomad 100 orders. Lockheed Martin has not confirmed those orders and has published no unit price or production contract for the Nomad 100 or the U-Hawk.
What to watch
The signals worth tracking are structural, not price-based — they tell you whether the business is changing shape, which is what eventually shows up in the numbers.
- Whether autonomy software is sold across third-party aircraft.
- The transition from small-UAS deployments into larger collaborative-aircraft programs.
- Disclosure of unmanned work inside the wider Aeronautics and Rotary and Mission Systems businesses.
- Lockheed launched a dedicated missile-technology product center, branded Strigo, in August 2026, selling modular radio-frequency sensors, datalinks, and seeker components built on a shared architecture across air-defense, missile-defense, and strike missions, backed by a company-stated $250 million internal investment. This sits in the missile business, not the small-UAS lineup above; a "ready-now" catalog approach is a sourcing-speed claim, and the thing to verify over time is whether it produces repeat orders across multiple missile programs rather than a single showcase win such as the Precision Strike Missile Increment 2 seeker Lockheed has already flight-tested.
- Trade coverage in August 2026 described Army munitions-modernization planning that would grow the Guided Multiple Launch Rocket System (GMLRS) inventory toward roughly 133,000 rounds by 2034. GMLRS sits inside Lockheed's Missiles and Fire Control segment, a separate P&L line from the small-UAS lineup above, and a rocket is a consumable that is restocked on operational tempo rather than a durable platform with a sustainment tail — the same magazine-depth logic this page applies to loitering munitions elsewhere on the site. A multi-year planning figure in trade coverage is not itself a signed, funded contract; check the actual annual appropriation and Army program-of-record documentation before sizing it into a Missiles and Fire Control thesis.
How to research Lockheed Martin
Every question below has one authoritative source, and using the wrong source is how most retail research goes wrong.
| Research question | Where the answer lives | What to look for |
|---|---|---|
| How much of this is really drones? | Segment tables in the annual filing | Whether unmanned systems are reported as their own segment or buried inside a larger one. |
| Is the revenue repeatable? | Revenue-recognition policy and backlog discussion | Recurring sustainment, services, or subscription language versus one-time hardware sales. |
| Is a win real money? | Official DoD contract announcements | Contract type, awarding command, and whether the amount announced is obligated or a ceiling. |
| Can the balance sheet fund the plan? | Liquidity discussion and share-count disclosure | Dilution history and cash runway relative to the manufacturing scale-up being promised. |
- Lockheed's own newsroom announcement of the Strigo product center is the primary source for that initiative: read it on news.lockheedmartin.com rather than a secondary summary, since the release states the internal-investment figure and the architecture concept but does not itemize which programs have placed funded orders through it.
- For the GMLRS inventory-growth figure, treat any specific out-year unit count as a planning target until it shows up as an actual appropriated, obligated line: cross-check the Army's own budget justification books rather than a single trade-press restatement, since multi-year procurement plans routinely change between the year they are first reported and the year Congress actually funds them.
One failure mode is worth naming explicitly: a company announcement describing a "selection", "award", or "partnership" is not the same as obligated money, and the two are easy to conflate because they use the same vocabulary. Check the official record before treating either as revenue. Our full approach is documented on the methodology page.
Lockheed Martin FAQ
What does Lockheed Martin do?
Lockheed Martin builds small uncrewed aircraft, autonomy software, and mission systems within a much larger defense business.
Is Lockheed Martin publicly traded?
Lockheed Martin trades as LMT on NYSE. Listing status is not a quality signal, and nothing here is a recommendation to buy or sell it.
What should investors watch with Lockheed Martin?
Whether autonomy software is sold across third-party aircraft.
Where can I research Lockheed Martin directly?
Go to the primary sources: Lockheed Martin ISR and uncrewed systems, Lockheed Martin Indago 4, Lockheed Martin Missiles and Fire Control. Avoid aggregator summaries when the filing itself is available.
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