The Secret Team Behind the F-35: How Lockheed Martin Became a $20 Billion-a-Quarter Giant
Everyone knows the F-35. Far fewer people know the story behind the company that builds it: two rival aviation pioneers, a secret engineering team founded in 1943, a 1995 merger and a business that now reports more than $20 billion in sales in a single quarter. Our new Defense and Tech documentary traces how Lockheed Martin was assembled, piece by piece.
Key facts
- Roots go back to 1912 and the aviation businesses of Allan Lockheed and Glenn Martin
- The modern corporation was created in 1995, when Lockheed and Martin Marietta combined
- Skunk Works began in 1943 under Kelly Johnson and later produced the U-2, SR-71 and F-117
- The C-130 Hercules first flew in 1954 and is still evolving as the C-130J
- Third-quarter 2026 sales: $20.7 billion, up from $18.6 billion a year earlier
A century of heritage, a 30-year-old company
Lockheed Martin can claim more than a hundred years of aviation history, yet its present corporate identity dates only from 1995. Lockheed and Martin followed separate paths for decades before they merged. Remembering that distinction explains why the company carries so many famous names that it did not originally invent, including the F-16, which came from General Dynamics.
Skunk Works and the real meaning of stealth
Kelly Johnson’s small, tightly run team became a byword for ambitious aircraft built under secrecy and tight schedules. But stealth was never invisibility. Low observability makes detection and tracking harder under particular conditions, and it depends on shaping, materials, sensors, software, maintenance and training as much as on the airframe itself.
F-35: an information system that flies
The F-35’s real significance lies in sensor fusion: combining many inputs into a clearer picture for the pilot. Its variants for conventional runways, short take-off and vertical landing, and aircraft carriers face different requirements, which is why treating every F-35 as identical misses the point.
Far beyond fighters
The documentary also follows the less glamorous work that keeps the company running: the C-130 transport, HIMARS and THAAD within wider defense networks, and NASA’s Orion spacecraft, where Lockheed Martin is lead contractor but far from the only builder.
What to watch next
A record order book does not guarantee success. The questions that matter are practical: can new systems finish testing, can factories deliver them consistently, and can operators keep them flying at an acceptable cost?
Watch the full series
This article accompanies our documentary on YouTube. The complete Defense Company Documentaries series follows eight of the best-known defense and aerospace companies, from Lockheed Martin and RTX to ASELSAN and HAVELSAN. Subscribe to DefenseandTech on YouTube so you don’t miss the next episode.
Editorial reference date: 2 November 2026. Figures come from company reports published by that date.
