Lockheed Martin and nuclear profiteering

Lockheed Martin is the world’s largest military contractor, weapons manufacturer, and arms exporter. Its contracts include F-117 stealth attack fighters, Paveway II bombs, and Patriot Advanced Capability-3 missiles—all of which have been used in the Iraq war. Here in the US, Lockheed Martin is also a major player in every aspect of the nuclear industry, from the fuel cycle to weapons development. For example:

1. Lockheed Martin manages Sandia National Laboratories near Albuquerque, New Mexico, where scientists design, manufacture, and maintain nuclear weapons. The lab runs on an annual budget of $2.3 billion and employees more than 7,000. Last year, the federal government rewarded Lockheed Martin for “outstanding” performance, extending its $12 million a year contract through 2009.

2. Lockheed Martin manages the Idaho National Laboratory (formerly the Idaho National Engineering Lab), which is a nuclear technology lab and test location, and is responsible for the storage of all military generated nuclear waste. 13 of its 52 nuclear reactors are still operable, and the Navy’s nuclear-powered submarine reactors are disposed of in a pit at the 573,608 acre site.

3. Lockheed Martin also makes delivery systems for nuclear weapons like the Trident D-5 missile—ten of which are on every Trident submarine. The D-5 missile carries eight 300-475 kiloton weapons, each the equivalent of 29 Hiroshimas.

4. In November 2004, Lockheed Martin was fined for failing to clean up a one-acre nuclear wasteland in Idaho Falls. In a 100-page ruling closing a 6-year battle, the presiding judge remarked that Lockheed Martin “failed to progress with the work, failed to give adequate assurances that it would perform in the future, and failed to adequately explain its failure to progress.” Those four failures in one sentence add up to a hefty $110 million fine.

Corporate website: www.lockheedmartin.com

CEO: Robert Stevens

Corporate headquarters: Bethesda, Maryland

This fact sheet was prepared by Frida Berrigan, Arms Trade Resource Center of the World Policy Institute and Ray Acheson, Reaching Critical Will of the Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom.