Lockheed Martin Corp. LMT won a modification contract from the U.S. Air Force to build 32 C-130J Super Hercules military airlift aircraft. The contract is valued at $1.06 billion and was awarded by the Air Force Life Cycle Management Center, Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, OH.
Per the contract, Lockheed Martin will provide various configurations of the C-130J model, which includes 13 C-130J-30, 11 MC-130J, 5 HC-130J, 2 KC-130J and 1 U.S. Coast Guard HC-130J. Work is scheduled to be complete by Apr 30, 2020 and will be performed in Marietta, GA.
In early 2015, the company announced that it has reached a verbal agreement with the U.S. Air Force for a five-year contract to manufacture up to 83 C-130J Super Hercules transport planes for the Air Force, Coast Guard and Marine Corps to be supplied through 2020.
The latest model in Lockheed Martin’s Hercules family – C-130J Super Hercules – is a four-engine turboprop military transport aircraft. The Hercules family has the longest continuous production run of a military aircraft in history. C-130J's crew includes two pilots and one loadmaster (no navigator or flight engineer is required).
The J-model is almost similar to the classic Hercules in terms of general appearance. However, it uses updated technology like the new Rolls-Royce AE 2100 D3 turboprops with Dowty R391 composite scimitar propellers, digital avionics and reduced crew requirements. These improvements boosted its performance over its C-130E/H predecessors, such as 40% greater range, 21% higher maximum speed and 41% shorter take-off distance.
Lockheed Martin is the largest U.S. defense contractor with a platform-centric focus that guarantees a steady inflow of follow-on orders from a leveraged presence in the U.S. Army, Air Force, Navy and IT programs.
The company has significant upside potential depending on Obama’s signing of an improved annual defense policy bill and his administration’s focus on intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance, unmanned systems, force protection, cybersecurity, and missile defense.
Zacks Rank
Lockheed Martin currently has a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). Some better-ranked stocks in the aerospace and defense sector include Leidos Holdings, Inc. LDOS, General Dynamics Corporation GD and Northrop Grumman Corporation NOC. While Leidos sports a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy), both General Dynamics and Northrop carry a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy).
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