NORTHROP GRUMMAN CORP /DE/ (NOC)

Northrop Grumman Corporation is a global aerospace and defense technology company that delivers products, services and solutions to U.S. and international customers, principally the U.S. Department of War and the intelligence community. It provides space systems, military aircraft, missile defense, advanced weapons and long-range fires, mission systems, networking and communications, and strategic deterrence systems, along with technologies such as advanced computing, microelectronics and cyber. The company was formed in 1939 as Northrop Aircraft Incorporated and reincorporated in Delaware in 1985. It grew through acquisitions including Grumman, Litton, Newport News Shipbuilding, TRW and Orbital ATK, and later spun off its shipbuilding business (2011) and sold its IT and mission support services business (2021).

The company has four reportable segments. Aeronautics Systems designs, produces, integrates and sustains military aircraft, including long-range strike, tactical fighter, battle management and command and control, and uncrewed aircraft systems. Its programs include the B-21 Raider, B-2 sustainment, E-130J, E-2D Advanced Hawkeye, MQ-4C Triton, RQ-4 Global Hawk and F-35 fuselage production. Defense Systems provides strategic deterrent systems, tactical weapons and missile defense, including the Sentinel ICBM program, the Integrated Battle Command System, ammunition and cannons, solid rocket motors, and precision and hypersonic weapons. Mission Systems supplies radar, electro-optical/infrared and acoustic sensors, C4ISR, electronic warfare, communications, microelectronics, navigation, maritime power and propulsion, and cyber solutions, including F-35 radar and sensors, infrared countermeasures and submarine propulsion systems. Space Systems builds satellites, spacecraft, sensors, payloads, ground systems, missile defense interceptors and launch vehicles and propulsion, with programs such as Next-Gen OPIR, SDA layers, the Cygnus spacecraft, the HALO lunar module and solid rocket motors for SLS and Trident II. Restricted programs account for roughly 40%, under 5%, 30% and 45% of the four segments' business, respectively.

The U.S. government is the largest customer, accounting for 84%, 87% and 86% of sales in 2025, 2024 and 2023. Other customers include international governments and, in space, civil government and commercial customers. The company works mainly under long-term U.S. government contracts, which are either cost-type or fixed-price and are governed by the Federal Acquisition Regulation and Cost Accounting Standards. Backlog was $95.7 billion at December 31, 2025, compared with $91.5 billion a year earlier.

Northrop Grumman competes with The Boeing Company, General Dynamics, L3Harris Technologies, Lockheed Martin and RTX, as well as new entrants and startups. It is often both a competitor and a supplier or customer of the same peers, and no material portion of its business is seasonal. It protects its technology through trade secrets, patents, trademarks and copyrights. It has faced raw material and microelectronics supply challenges that have raised costs and lead times but have not materially affected contract performance. At December 31, 2025, it had about 95,000 employees, roughly 4,300 of them covered by collective agreements.