Lockheed eyeing foreign, non-defence orders

[WASHINGTON] Lockheed Martin Corp said that it was banking on international and non-defence orders to offset a drop in US military spending, with Pentagon orders accounting for a low 61 per cent of overall sales last year and trending lower.

Lockheed chief financial officer Bruce Tanner said that US defence orders would likely dip further as a percentage of overall revenues this year and next, and orders could drop as low as 50 per cent, depending on what happened in other business areas. "It's not in our long-term vision to get to 50-50 . . . but it's not out of the possibility that it could drop there," Mr Tanner said at the company's annual media conference on Monday. He said that Lockheed's revenues would remain "fairly flat" this year and next, but could start to edge higher in 2016 or 2017, based on current Pentagon budget projections.

Lockheed chief executive officer Marillyn Hewson said that the company was focused on delivering next-generation weapons such as the F-35 fighter jet, expanding its international footprint, and developing new technologies to address the need of a growing world population for clean water and affordable energy.