Biden greenlights missile boost for Ukraine, Lockheed profits soar
Americans have given Ukraine the approval to use ATACMS missiles, which Kyiv has long sought to strike targets up to 186 miles inside Russia. The supplier of this ammunition is a leading military manufacturer worldwide.
8:07 AM EST, November 18, 2024
On Sunday, "The New York Times" reported that the Biden administration has agreed to Ukraine's use of ATACMS (Army Tactical Missile System) missiles. These missiles have a range of up to 186 miles, enabling Kyiv to strike deep into Russian territories. Defense24 notes that in 2022, the cost of deploying one ATACMS missile was approximately 1.5 million dollars.
ATACMS for Ukraine: Missiles produced by an American giant
Lockheed Martin, a global leader in armament contracts, produces this rocket ammunition. The company was the top arms manufacturer in the world in 2023, with revenues of 65 billion dollars from this sector. In contrast, the Chinese Aviation Industry Corporation of China generated 45 billion dollars in revenues. Outside the USA and China, British BAE Systems, ranking seventh, achieved the largest revenues in the military sector.
This revenue has increased gradually each year. According to a report from the General Services Administration, cited by "The Hill," Lockheed Martin signed contracts with the federal government worth 47.7 billion dollars from October 2021 to the end of September 2022, during the full-scale war in Ukraine. Compared to the previous year, this was an increase of 5 billion dollars. For context, during this period, as the USA and the world were still recovering from the COVID-19 pandemic, Pfizer, the vaccine manufacturer, received government contracts worth 18 billion dollars.
In April 2023, the company announced that the US Army had signed a contract to produce additional HIMARS multiple-launch rocket systems worth 615 million dollars.
The publication notes that the Department of Defense has the largest discretionary budget among all federal agencies. However, significant domestic orders are just part of the picture. Lockheed fulfils contracts in other NATO countries.
Lockheed Martin was initially solely an aircraft manufacturer. Founded in 1926, the company currently employs over 120,000 people worldwide. It operates in four segments; in addition to aviation, it produces missile, anti-aircraft, and space systems. LM enjoys a prominent position on the list of US government contractors—in 2023 alone, the company received 49.4 billion dollars from the sale of its products. It should be noted that the USA spent 916 billion dollars on defence this year, while China, which ranks second, spent "only" 296 billion dollars.
