Lockheed sets sights on new target: climate change

Washington

THE head of one of the world's most innovative fish farms sports a scruffy beard and talks about saving the planet by moving "towards a culture of nurture". His office is a trailer near the beach, where the views are of dolphins, the mission is progressive and the dress code is loose.

All of which makes Neil Sims' partnership with Lockheed Martin a most unusual corporate alliance.

The world's largest defence contractor is best known for making the weapons that unleash cataclysmic fury on America's enemies, whether in Iraq, Afghanistan or Syria. But lately, it has set its sights on a different threat to national security: climate change.

In the past few years, Bethesda, Maryland-based Lockheed has launched a series of new initiatives - harnessing energy from tides, purifying water, nuclear fusion, and, yes, a new, environmentally friendly way to farm fish in a cage that drifts off the Hawaiian shore. Chief executive Marillyn Hewson touts the ventures as growth opportunities, a calculated effort to go green at a time when defence spending is shrinkin…