Lockheed top supplier for Pentagon

WASHINGTON – Lockheed Martin Corp, Boeing Co and Northrop Grumman Corp remained respectively the Pentagon’s top three suppliers in fiscal 2005, the US Defence Department said on Thursday.

Lockheed received US$19,4 billion in Pentagon prime contracts in the year ended on September 30, down from US$20,7 billion in fiscal 2004, the department’s annual list of its 100 top suppliers showed. Based in Bethesda, Maryland, Lockheed makes the F-16 fighter jet, Aegis naval warfare system and Titan 4 booster rocket.It has been the Pentagon’s No 1 supplier since 1995 when it merged with Martin Marietta Corp.and received a combined total of US$10,5 billion in contract awards.Lockheed, where military sales are 60 per cent of its business, reported on Thursday that its fourth-quarter net profit rose a greater-than-expected 53 per cent, on higher sales of information technology services and one-time investment gains.Boeing, based in Chicago, was the No 2 Pentagon supplier and collected US$18,3 billion in prime awards, up from US$17,1 billion the year before.Boeing, which got 56 of its sales from defence in the first three quarters of 2005, has seen civilian airliner orders boom in 2005.Its stock is up 38 per cent over a year ago.- Nampa-ReutersBased in Bethesda, Maryland, Lockheed makes the F-16 fighter jet, Aegis naval warfare system and Titan 4 booster rocket.It has been the Pentagon’s No 1 supplier since 1995 when it merged with Martin Marietta Corp.and received a combined total of US$10,5 billion in contract awards.Lockheed, where military sales are 60 per cent of its business, reported on Thursday that its fourth-quarter net profit rose a greater-than-expected 53 per cent, on higher sales of information technology services and one-time investment gains.Boeing, based in Chicago, was the No 2 Pentagon supplier and collected US$18,3 billion in prime awards, up from US$17,1 billion the year before.Boeing, which got 56 of its sales from defence in the first three quarters of 2005, has seen civilian airliner orders boom in 2005.Its stock is up 38 per cent over a year ago.- Nampa-Reuters