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Northrop Grumman
Defense contractor Northrop Grumman announced a major expansion of its ongoing share repurchase program yesterday, signaling that the company's earnings per share (E.P.S.) are likely to increase for years to come despite softening demand from its federal customer. The company disclosed that its
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Date:
5/17/2013
Defense contractor Northrop Grumman Corporation today reported increased earnings per share in the fourth quarter of 2012 despite softening demand for military goods and services, reflecting the benefits of Chairman Wes Bush's investor-friendly financial strategy. In the three years since Bush
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Date:
1/30/2013
America's fifth-biggest defense contractor isn't so easy for outsiders to understand. Although Northrop Grumman has many powerful technology franchises, some of the most important are secret, and others involve selling equipment to prime contractors rather than the government. However, it's pretty
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Date:
12/11/2012
The defense industry has become the backbone of what's left of manufacturing in the Northeast. But don't take my word for it, just look out the window of your car as you drive from D.C. to Cape Cod. From the sprawling Northrop Grumman electronics plant near Baltimore to the Boeing helicopter factory
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Date:
8/15/2012
There was a time when the Air Force wasn't just co-equal with the other military services in the Department of Defense, but first among equals. That time is now long gone. After a smashing success in the 1999 Balkan air war -- it defeated Serbia without assistance from ground forces -- the Air
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Date:
8/6/2012
The U.S. defense industry used to be regarded as a bastion of white male executives. It still is seen that way in some quarters, but the reality is that women are rapidly ascending into top jobs across the defense sector. Since the new year began, General Dynamics has announced its next Chairman
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Date:
7/30/2012
Northrop Grumman, one of the biggest military contractors in the world, disclosed a series of leadership changes yesterday reflecting the growing role of women at the top of the defense industry. In what amounts to a generational renewal of its senior ranks, the company elevated three top-performing
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Date:
7/24/2012
The lead vessel in the Littoral Combat Ship program has reached the point in its development when self-appointed watchdogs begin to question its price and performance. The Project on Government Oversight has branded it a "busted, leaky boat" and called for cancellation of the whole class. Investigative
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Date:
5/14/2012
Yesterday I did an investor call with Michael Lewis of Lazard Capital Markets concerning the outlook for the defense sector as military spending priorities shift. You can read Lazard's full report on my comments
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Date:
3/2/2012
On February 21, I had the opportunity to give a talk about the defense budget and cyber security at the stunning new collaborative research center Northrop Grumman Information Systems is completing in Tysons Corner, Virginia. To say it is state-of-the-art is an understatement; the company has carefully
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Date:
2/24/2012
Pentagon policymakers were smart to wait two weeks before disclosing the program changes that will accompany the administration's new national security strategy. The political system needs some time to assimilate the emerging strategic framework before it hears what revised military priorities
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Date:
1/6/2012
For nearly a decade now, diversification has been the "D" word in the defense industry -- the strategy that dare not speak its name. But conditions have deteriorated so badly in military markets that companies are contemplating expansion into adjacent areas, and even further afield. It's not just
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Date:
11/8/2011
There was a time when the Pentagon's idea of smart acquisition practices meant things like multiyear contracts and avoiding excessive testing. Not now. The current approach to promoting efficiency in weapons purchases is mainly about shifting risk to industry and cutting the performance of next-generation
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Date:
11/2/2011
When Northrop Grumman Chairman Wes Bush addressed a meeting of government officials and contractors at the company's new headquarters in Virginia last week, he began by thanking local officials for their help in moving to the location. Bush disclosed the decision to move the headquarters from Los
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Date:
10/11/2011
This is the week that Pentagon policymakers begin sorting out how to assure that one of the military's most important reconnaissance systems will be available to warfighters at an affordable price. The RQ-4 Global Hawk is an unmanned aircraft conceived to replace the venerable U-2 spy plane with
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Date:
9/26/2011
Unmanned aircraft have become the signature weapon of America's global war on terrorists. Just last week, a CIA drone strike killed al Qaeda's second in command. But unmanned aircraft have limitations. First, they are usually defenseless against attack. Second, they are fragile. Third, their
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Date:
8/29/2011
One thing's for sure about nuclear deterrence: it isn't likely to work if you don't know you're being attacked. That's why Lockheed Martin's disclosure on May 24 that the first Space-Based Infrared System (SBIRS) satellite has reached geosynchronous orbit was so important: because without it, the
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Date:
5/24/2011
With Osama bin Laden now gone to his reward -- probably not the place where 72 virgins await him -- defense contractors must confront the possibility of a major downturn in military demand over the coming years. The Obama Administration has already canceled four of the top twelve weapons programs
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Date:
5/3/2011
In the years since the Cold War ended, the number of system integrators in many segments of the defense industry has declined significantly. A dozen missile producers became four, six naval shipbuilders became two, and the ranks of military aircraft manufacturers were reduced by half. However,
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Date:
4/12/2011
This morning, the naval shipbuilding operations that Northrop Grumman owned for the last ten years began life as an independent company called Huntington Ingalls Industries. Northrop Grumman CEO Wes Bush decided shortly after assuming the helm of the parent company last year that shipbuilding was
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Date:
3/31/2011
Consider the challenge faced by ITT Defense as it prepares to become independent from the conglomerate that currently owns it. Anywhere else in the world, ITT would be a national gem -- the most accomplished player in military electronics and related fields within several time zones. But in the
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Date:
3/18/2011
Date:
3/14/2011
The big story for the defense industry in the January 6 budget cuts proposed by defense secretary Robert Gates was what didn't happen: after reducing future weapons outlays by $330 billion in previous rounds of budget cutting, this time Gates cut almost nothing. The headline story was termination
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Date:
1/7/2011
The Sydney Morning Herald reports today that the chief executive officer of Australian shipbuilder Austal is resigning after only two years on the job. Nobody outside the company seems to know why he is leaving. Normally, few people in Washington would care why the CEO of a modest ($500
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Date:
9/22/2010
The juiciest rumor to come out of the Thomson Reuters aerospace and defense summit this week was speculation that Boeing may be considering a bid for some or all of Northrop Grumman. The head of Boeing's defense business, Dennis Muilenburg, declined to rule out the possibility of a large-scale
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Date:
9/10/2010
On July 31 the USS Missouri, seventh vessel in the Virginia class of nuclear-powered attack submarines, was commissioned at the naval submarine base in Connecticut. A crowd of 3,000 people attended the ceremony, including defense secretary Robert Gates and his wife Becky, House Armed Services Committee
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Date:
8/5/2010
Nuclear-powered warships are uniquely suited to America's global maritime role, because they have unlimited range and are less dependent on overseas logistics support than warships powered by fossil fuels. However, the special skills required to design and build such vessels are concentrated in
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Date:
7/22/2010
Northrop Grumman's disclosure this week that it may exit the naval shipbuilding business has generated a wave of speculation among investors about defense-industry consolidation. Investors have long known that demand for defense goods and services would soften as U.S. forces began to withdraw from
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Date:
7/16/2010
Wayne Biddle began his 1991 history of the aerospace industry, Barons of the Sky, with the observation that "corporations destroy history." Unless there is a legal requirement to maintain records, companies are usually too focused on the present to maintain detailed archives about their
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Date:
7/15/2010
Northrop Grumman disclosed on July 13 that it would consolidate naval shipbuilding operations on the Gulf Coast, and seriously consider exiting the shipbuilding business through a sale or spinoff of its yards. Chief Executive Officer Wes Bush bluntly stated what many people inside the company already
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Date:
7/14/2010
You don't need a defense expert to tell you that domestic demand for military goods and services is likely to weaken in the years ahead. The war in Iraq is ending, the federal government is running a daily budget deficit of $4 billion, and the Obama Administration has an ambitious domestic agenda.
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Date:
5/14/2010
As I predicted in January, Northrop Grumman has decided to move its corporate headquarters to Northern Virginia. The most likely location is the same office park where General Dynamics headquarters sits astride the Capitol Beltway near Tysons Corner, but at least one other site in that vicinity
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Date:
4/27/2010
Although Northrop Grumman employees are deeply disappointed that they could not build a convincing business case for bidding in the Air Force's pending tanker procurement, there is one big advantage to pulling out now. When the World Trade Organization releases its final report on Airbus subsidies
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Date:
3/19/2010
The European media are in an uproar today following Northrop Grumman's decision to pull out of the Air Force's tanker competition. Much of the commentary accepts at face value the charge made by Northrop and European aerospace conglomerate EADS that the solicitation favored Boeing, and then jumps
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Date:
3/10/2010
Northrop Grumman's leaders hated pulling out of the Air Force's tanker competition on Monday. Having spent four years and $200 million positioning their team to be a credible contender, company leaders desperately wanted to fight and win. But they simply couldn't find a solution to the government's
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Date:
3/9/2010
The Boeing Company released details of its proposed next-generation tanker on Thursday that underscored just how tough it will be for Northrop Grumman to prevail in the next round of competition. Every feature of the Boeing plane seems calculated to maximize its competitive advantage under the
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Date:
3/4/2010
After four years and $200 million in expenses, Northrop Grumman may have reached a dead end in its bid to build the Air Force's future aerial-refueling tanker. That can't come as a total surprise to newly-minted CEO Wes Bush, who doubted the wisdom of pursuing the tanker contract from day one.
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Date:
2/26/2010
Even before the defense department unveiled its final strategy for acquiring a new aerial-refueling tanker yesterday, Northrop Grumman was deep into preparations for announcing that it would not bid. Pentagon officials had sent Northrop and its rival, Boeing, clear signals that the final acquisition
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Date:
2/25/2010