Lockheed Martin is a major US weapons developer with sites in the Massachusetts towns of Andover, Chelmsford, Burlington, Lexington, Pittsfield, Bedford, Marlborough, and Lowell, as well as subsidiary sites in Boston (Cybereason Inc, Lightmatter Inc), and Acton (Newlands Inc). Lockheed Martin has made over $600 billion to date through the sale of its weapons and technologies to the US military, the Israeli military, US Customs and Border Protection (CBP), US police forces, and other US state and federal agencies.
As reported by AFSC Investigate, Lockheed Martin has armed Israel with F-16 fighter jets, Longbow Hellfire missiles, AH-64 Apache Longbow helicopters parts, C-130 and C-130J Hercules transport aircraft, the Multiple Launch Rocket System (MLRS) (which provides mobile surface-to-surface rocket launch capabilities), as well as a broad array of radars, rockets, laser pointers, rocket pods, and fire control and guidance systems. Of particular note, Israel purchased 50 Lockheed Martin F-35 fighter jets through the US Foreign Military Sales (FMS) program, in a 2010 deal worth $2.7 billion. Israel spends a significant portion of the $3.8 billion of “military aid” it receives from the US annually on Lockheed Martin weaponry (US aid to Israel includes stipulations that Israel must spend a large portion of the aid on products from US companies).
As reported by AFSC Investigate, Israel has used Lockheed Martin's fighter jets, Apache helicopters, Hellfire missiles, and other weapons systems repeatedly in its attacks on Palestinians (see: here, here, here, here, here, here, here, and here) as well as its attacks on the people of Lebanon (see: here, here, and here). During these attacks, Israel slaughtered many thousands of people and repeated destroyed essential civilian infrastructure such as power plants and water and sewage systems, causing large-scale death, illness, and suffering.
Lockheed Martin also maintains company facilities in Israel, and claims it plans to expand its "footprint" in Israel in the near future. Per Lockheed Martin's website:
In late 2014, Lockheed Martin Israel doubled its office space at the Museum Tower in Tel Aviv. The company is continuing to expand its operations in several areas, as part of its long term plan to expand the local team and to develop businesses in new areas, in addition to its previous activity in the defense industry. This will be accomplished primarily by creating collaborations with industry and academia in Israel in the areas of cyber, education, research and development and more." Lockheed proceeds to brag about its support for Israeli army: "Lockheed Martin has also assisted in strengthening the IDF ground forces. The Multiple Launch Rocket System (MLRS) manufactured by Lockheed Martin is used by the IDF ground forces and introduced new capabilities in the 1980s for providing artillery assistance in the battlefield. Lockheed Martin has also supplied radars, rockets, fire control and guidance systems, laser pointers and pods, while also lending support to training, air traffic control and weather forecasting, to name but a few of our diverse activities.
To date, Lockheed Martin has received contracts from the US Department of Defense (DoD) worth a combined $540.82 billion for the provision of its products and services to the US Army, US Navy, US Air Force, and other branches of the US armed services. In fiscal year 2020 alone, Lockheed Martin received US DoD contracts worth $76.6 billion, making Lockheed Martin far and away the largest recipient of DoD spending that year. Lockheed Martin is also a member of the Pentagon-funded consortium FlexTech Alliance, announced in 2015. A DoD press release on the FlexTech Alliance states that it aims is to "accelerate military technology development cycles and focus on critical Department of Defense needs while also creating new commercial opportunities." The DoD press release further notes that "backed by companies as diverse as Apple and Lockheed Martin and major research universities including Stanford and MIT," the FlexTech Alliance "represents the next chapter in the long-standing public-private partnerships between the Pentagon and tech community."
Lockheed Martin also sells its weapons and technologies to the local, state, and federal agencies which police Black and Brown communities across the US, and which track, detain, and deport Black and Brown migrants.
In 2009, Lockheed Martin partnered with The Police Executive Research Forum (PERF), "a membership organization of police chiefs and sheriffs" that "has been actively exploring ways to harness technology to help advance the field of law enforcement," to carry out a "Law Enforcement Technology Needs Assessment." According to Lockheed Martin and PERF, this Needs Assessment aimed "to identify, evaluate, and prioritize cutting-edge, relevant technologies that hold the greatest priority for policing," in order to develop a "prioritized list of technologies to develop for law enforcement," and in order to understand and overcome "[b]arriers to the introduction of technology in the LEA community." Lockheed Martin provided funding for the completion of this Needs Assessment, which Lockheed surely viewed as a fruitful investment which would yield increased sales of its weaponry and technologies to police and other security forces across the US.
As reported by AFSC Investigate, "From 2005 to 2021, Lockheed Martin signed almost 3,000 contracts with the US Department of Homeland Security (DHS) collectively worth at least $4.8 billion and 70% of which were awarded by Customs and Border Protection (CBP) (a sub-agency of DHS) and the Transportation and Security Administration." Through these contracts, Lockheed Martin has equipped US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) with "P-3 Orion Airborne Early Warning reconnaissance planes," which CBP uses for its surveillance operations along the US-Mexico border. Lockheed Martin also provides CBP with "data processing services," which allow CBP to organize and streamline information the agency uses to run its regime of tracking, detentions, and deportations of Black and Brown migrants. Lockheed Martin subsidiary Sikorsky also provides CBP with UH-60 Black Hawk and Sikorsky S-76 helicopters.
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Apple and Lockheed Martin are both members of the Pentagon-funded consortium FlexTech Alliance, announced in 2015. A DoD press release states that the aim of the FlexTech Alliance is to "accelerate military technology development cycles and focus on critical Department of Defense needs while also creating new commercial opportunities." The DoD press release further notes that "backed by companies as diverse as Apple and Lockheed Martin and major research universities including Stanford and MIT," the FlexTech alliance "represents the next chapter in the long-standing public-private partnerships between the Pentagon and tech community."
Aptima currently holds a federal contract to work in partnership with weapons company Lockheed Martin to develop a "Confined Space Monitoring System," which will allow the US military to monitor its workers' locations and vital signs in real-time.
As reported by AFSC Investigate, "BAE Systems collaborated with Lockheed Martin to develop the F-35 jets ordered by Israel," providing "the tail end of the F-35 jets, specifically the aft fuselage and empennage, and received a contract from Lockheed Martin in 2018 to manage the electronic warfare systems for the fighter jets." AFSC Investigate highlights that Lockheed's "F-16 fighter jets and Apache helicopters, both of which contain components manufactured by BAE Systems, have been used repeatedly in Israeli attacks on densely populated civilian areas," killing many thousands and destroying essential civilian infrastructure in Lebanon and Palestine. (See: here, here, here, here, here, here, and here).
AFSC further notes that "In 2006, BAE worked with Lockheed Martin ... to market the Protector drone itself to the United States Navy." Most recently in 2021, BAE systems won a contract to worth up to $600 million to supply the US Air Force with "support equipment for [its] international F-16 fleet aircraft" produced by Lockheed Martin.
Lockheed Martin President and CEO James Taiclet spoke at Citigroup's 2021 "Global Industrials Virtual Conference."
According to a report by the Transnational Institute, between 2006 and 2019, Customs and Border Protection (CBP) (a sub-agency within DHS) awarded contracts worth a combined $1 billion to weapons developer Lockheed Martin. These contracts were for "surveillance planes, coastguard, and cybersecurity."
In 2020, Elbit Systems announced they had obtained a contract with Lockheed Martin to assemble components parts used in Lockheed's F-35 warplanes.
General Dynamics Mission Systems states that they have "designed, produced, installed and sustained every version of the Weapon Control System" for the Trident II (D-5) SSBN Fire Control System and SSGN Attack Weapon Control System, a major ballistic weapons system built by Lockheed Martin and deployed in US and UK submarines, which is capable of launching nuclear weapons (see info on most recent Trident II contract here).
For decades, General Electric supplied specialized jet engines for Lockheed Martin's C-5M Super Galaxy airplanes, which are, according to GE the US Air Force’s "Largest Transport Craft." GE boasts that "The high-bypass turbofan design allowed GE engineers to boost the engines’ thrust to 40,000 pounds each — the C-5 has four of them — and cut fuel burn by a quarter compared with other engines in use at the time."
Lockheed Martin Vice President for Corporate Business Development Leo Mackay is a Kennedy School alumni (MPP '91). At the Kennedy School, Mackay was a Fellow in the HKS Belfer Center International Security Program (1991-92). Mackay stated in 2008, "Going to the Kennedy School of Government changed my life." Indeed, following his stint at the Kennedy School Mackay was invited to work as the "military assistant" to then US Assistant Secretary of Defense for International Security Policy Ashton Carter, who would soon go on to become co-director of the Harvard Kennedy School Belfer Center. Following this stint at the U.S. Pentagon, Mackay landed in the US weapons industry at Lockheed Martin.
Lockheed Martin Vice President Marcel Lettre is a Harvard Kennedy School alumni (MPP, 1998-2000). Prior joining Lockheed Martin in 2017, Lettre spent eight years in the US Department of Defense (DoD). To date, the US DoD has awarded Lockheed Martin contacts worth a combined $542.56 billion for the provision of products and services to the US Army, Navy, Air Force, and other branches of the US military.
(Retired) USGeneral Joseph F. Dunford is currently a member of two Lockheed Martin Board of Director Committees. Dunford is also currently a Senior Fellow at the Harvard Kennedy School's Belfer Center. Dunford was previously a US military leader, serving as Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and Commander of all US and NATO Forces in Afghanistan. Dunford also serves on the board of the Atlantic Council, itself a NATO and US cutout which crassly promotes the interests of US empire.
Lockheed Martin Board of Directors member Jeh Johnson has lectured at Harvard Kennedy School. Johnson is the former US Secretary of Homeland Security.
Former Lockheed Martin CEO Norman Augustine is listed as one of six "external reviewers" "whose comments substantially improved" a 43-page research paper published by the Harvard Kennedy School's Belfer Center in December 2021. The research paper was entitled "The Great Tech Rivalry: China vs the U.S.," consistent with both Lockheed Martin and Harvard Kennedy's broader roles as mouthpieces of the propagandistic discourse of US empire, which is currently focused on escalating a new cold war with China.
Lettre, Mackay, Johnson, and Dunford's respective career trajectories are emblematic of the "revolving door" which exists between elite institutions of knowledge production like Harvard Kennedy, the US war machine and national security state (which feeds its people into these elite institutions), and the US weapons industry (which seeks business from US war machine and national security state). Meanwhile Harvard Kennedy School's appeal to Norman Augustine, former CEO of America's largest defense contractor, for "external review" of their "scholarship" speaks to Harvard Kennedy School's self-conception as an elite academic bulwark which provides legitimacy to the hegemonic aspirations of US empire and the violent and destructive business aspirations of the US weapons industry.
Harvard University and Lockheed Martin are both members of the Pentagon-funded consortium FlexTech Alliance, announced in 2015. A DoD press release states that the aim of the FlexTech Alliance is to "accelerate military technology development cycles and focus on critical Department of Defense needs while also creating new commercial opportunities." The DoD press release further notes that "backed by companies as diverse as Apple and Lockheed Martin and major research universities including Stanford and MIT," the FlexTech alliance "represents the next chapter in the long-standing public-private partnerships between the Pentagon and tech community."
MIT maintains multiple partnerships with weapons developer Lockheed Martin. Through the "MIT-Lockheed Martin Seed Fund," MIT sends its students to do work for Lockheed Martin at the company's sites in Israel. Lockheed Martin also has a major partnership with MIT's Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics as well as MIT's Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Lab (CSAIL), and Lockheed Martin is a partner to MIT's energy initiative.
Lockheed Martin and MIT are both members of the Pentagon-funded consortium FlexTech Alliance, announced in 2015. A DoD press release states that the aim of the FlexTech Alliance is to "accelerate military technology development cycles and focus on critical Department of Defense needs while also creating new commercial opportunities." The DoD press release further notes that "backed by companies as diverse as Apple and Lockheed Martin and major research universities including Stanford and MIT," the FlexTech alliance "represents the next chapter in the long-standing public-private partnerships between the Pentagon and tech community."
The MIT School of Engineering and MIT Lincoln Labs run the "MIT Beaver Works Summer Institute," "a rigorous, world-class STEM program for talented rising high school seniors," which "teaches STEM skills through project-based, workshop-style courses." Students participating in the MIT Beaver Works Summer Institute in 2019 were able to choose between four-week project-based courses which included one course led by MIT and MIT Lincoln Labs staff as well staff from Lockheed Martin. 2019 Summer Institute students who selected the Lockheed Martin course worked in small teams under the guidance of MIT researchers and Lockheed Martin employees to design and build unmanned ground vehicles ("Autonomous RACECARs"), before racing their respective unmanned ground vehicles against other teams at the end of the four-week program.
Lockheed Martin's participation in the MIT Beaver Works Summer Institute is emblematic of the deep integration which exists between elite institutions of knowledge production (like MIT and MIT Lincoln Labs) and the US military industrial complex. From an early age, MIT and the weapons companies with whom it collaborates guide impressionable high school and middle school students with a passion for STEM toward careers building products of death and destruction such as the unmanned land and aerial vehicles for companies like Lockheed Martin.
Boeing and Lockheed Martin produce Hellfire Missiles through a joint venture. Boeing sells these Hellfire Missiles to the Israeli military.
Lockheed Martin and Boeing are both members of the Pentagon-funded consortium FlexTech Alliance, announced in 2015. A DoD press release states that the aim of the FlexTech Alliance is to "accelerate military technology development cycles and focus on critical Department of Defense needs while also creating new commercial opportunities." The DoD press release further notes that "backed by companies as diverse as Apple and Lockheed Martin and major research universities including Stanford and MIT," the FlexTech alliance "represents the next chapter in the long-standing public-private partnerships between the Pentagon and tech community."
Lockheed Martin has derived $84.9 billion to date through US DoD contracts for the provision of products and services to the US Army.
Lockheed Martin has derived $154.31 billion to date through US DoD contracts for the provision of products and services to the US Air Force.
The MIT School of Engineering and MIT Lincoln Labs run the "MIT Beaver Works Summer Institute," "a rigorous, world-class STEM program for talented rising high school seniors," which "teaches STEM skills through project-based, workshop-style courses." Students participating in the MIT Beaver Works Summer Institute in 2019 were able to choose between four-week project-based course, in which they received instruction not only from MIT and MIT Lincoln Labs staff but also from weapons developers including Lockheed Martin. 2019 Summer Institute students who selected the Lockheed Martin course worked in small teams under the guidance of MIT researchers and Lockheed Martin employees to design and build unmanned ground vehicles ("Autonomous RACECARs"), before racing their respective unmanned ground vehicles against other teams at the end of the four-week program.
Lockheed Martin's participation in the MIT Beaver Works Summer Institute is emblematic of the deep integration which exists between elite institutions of knowledge production (like MIT and MIT Lincoln Labs) and the US military industrial complex. From an early age, MIT the weapons companies with whom it collaborates guide impressionable high school and middle school students with a passion for STEM toward careers building products of death and destruction such as the unmanned land and aerial vehicles for company's like Lockheed Martin.
Northrop Grumman and Lockheed Martin collaborate in the production of Apache AH64D Helicopters sold to Israel. Northrop Grumman and Lockheed Martin also collaborate in the production of F-35 fighter jets sold to Israel, with Northrop Grumman producing key component parts for these F-35 fighter jets (see also here and here). Israel has used these Apache Helicopters and fighter jets in its repeated attacks on densely populated areas in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, as well as in Lebanon. In these attacks, Israel has targeted civilian homes, civilian infrastructure, and refugee camps. (See: here and here)
In 2009, Lockheed Martin partnered with The Police Executive Research Forum, "a membership organization of police chiefs and sheriffs" that "has been actively exploring ways to harness technology to help advance the field of law enforcement," to carry out a "Law Enforcement Technology Needs Assessment." According to Lockheed Martin and PERF, the Needs Assessment aimed "to identify, evaluate, and prioritize cutting-edge, relevant technologies that hold the greatest priority for policing," in order to develop a "prioritized list of technologies to develop for law enforcement," and to understand and overcome "[b]arriers to the introduction of technology in the LEA community." Lockheed Martin provided funding for the completion of this Needs Assessment, which the Lockheed surely viewed as a fruitful investment that would yield increased sales of its military-grade weaponry to police and other security forces across the US.
As of FY03, the Susan and Barry Tatelman Foundation held shares in weapons manufacturer Lockheed Martin valued at $18,668.
Teradyne is one of Lockheed Martin's Massachusetts-based suppliers. Teradyne provides "automated testing" for Lockheed's products, including Lockheed's "F-16, F-22 and F-35 programs."
Lockheed Martin has derived $250.87 billion to date through US DoD contracts to service the US Navy.