Lockheed says value of hypersonic contracts now totals more than $3.5 billion

By Marjorie Censer / July 23, 2019 at 4:16 PM

Lockheed Martin, buoyed by two new wins, now estimates the total value of its hypersonic business at more than $3.5 billion, according to the company's chief executive.

In a call with analysts today, Marillyn Hewson pointed to two recent wins. She said Lockheed was selected as the prime contractor for the Long Range Hypersonic Weapon integration effort for the Army Hypersonic Project Office and is part of a team led by Dynetics selected by the Army for the Common Hypersonic Glide Body prototype.

Both deals, she said, will be negotiated in the next few months.

When finalized, Hewson added, they "would bring the potential value of all of the hypersonic contracts across the corporation . . . to over $3.5 billion."

Ken Possenriede, Lockheed's chief financial officer, said the company's hypersonics work tends to be in the development or prototype phase.

Prototype launches start next year on most of these efforts, he added.

"Once we get past first launch, then I think it will be the time for that customer set to sit with us to see if it makes sense to go into production," he added. "That's probably, say -- two years out would be our best guess."

"So you will see this year, next year and into 2021 us continue to perform on these programs from a prototype development standpoint," Possenriede continued. "Perhaps shape a couple more programs and get a few more in our backlog -- but production won't happen for the next couple years."

204317