Lockheed Martin is headquartered in Bethesda, Maryland principally engaged in global security and aerospace sustainment technology systems. This company is a large proponent of my work, and one of the largest military contractors. As a manufacturer of aircraft and components, and one of the two main competitors for the government’s business, Lockheed Martin engineers some of the major lines of defense that I see and work with every day. My job revolves around whether these defensive tools will perform as advertised in order to help us complete our mission. Innovation drives this company to be a financial giant not only in this decade, but for over a century. The history of the company is quite extensive, beginning as a small, few man show …show more content…
Allan Loughead, Malcolm Loughead, and Max Mamlock founded Alco Hydro-Aeroplane Company in 1912. They wanted to fly a design built by the Loughead brothers, the Model G. After a few years, other investors were interested and eventually flew paying customers. By 1916, the brothers organized Loughead Aircraft Manufacturing Company but with poor sales of it flying F-1, they liquidated by 1921. Allan Loughead established Lockheed Aircraft Company (spelling the company to match pronunciation) in 1926. Along with other engineers, a four passenger wooden monoplane was constructed and was highly successful. Wiley Post flew this plane around the world, achieving a record for a successful long distance flight, among many others. In 1934 the company finally saw larger profits after the creation of the first Electra. This airliner was a twin-engine, all metal craft that paved the way for the World War II twin-tailboom P-38. The United States military was a close associate to the Lockheed Corporation after creating many aircraft including the P-80 Shooting Star, F-104 Starfighter, U-2 spy plane, SR-71 Blackbird, F-117 Nighthawk, and Have Blue a stealth aircraft. After establishing a clear understanding and superiority with fighter aircraft that could fly not only as fast as the speed of sound, but also twice as fast, Lockheed delved into the world of transport aircraft. C-130 Hercules, C-141 StarLifter, and the C-5 Galaxy were the long-lived series of cargo lifters fashioned. Because of their exploration into the cargo world, Lockheed produced the first of a long line of products including the first turbojets and the heaviest, largest American aircraft. Submarines, space missions, and electronics were some of the other related sources of income during 1977, so they changed their name to
Until recently, the Ford Motor Company has been one of the most dynastic of American enterprises, a factor which has both benefited the company and has brought it to the brink of disaster. Today Ford is the second largest manufacturer of automobiles and trucks in the world, and it’s operations are well diversified, both operationally and geographically. The company operates the worlds second largest finance company in the world, and is a major producer of tractors, glass and steel. It is most prominent in the US, but also has plants in Canada, Britain and Germany, and facilities in over 100 countries.
Before this, the United States Air Corps was only comprised of 20,000 personnel and less than 2,000 planes, afterwards the Department of War made the Army Air Forces. It greatly grew after Pearl Harbor when the United States was thrusted into war. With the aid of military leadership from General Henry Arnold, the Army Air Force created one of the largest air armadas and took control over the aviation industry boosting the innovations of the aircrafts that were being produced. At its very peak of the war, the AAF was able to increase its personnel to 2.4 million and was then comprised of over 80,000 aircrafts.
In 1940, Preston Tucker created the Tucker Aviation Corporation, and wanted to manufacture aircraft and marine engines. He designed a fighter aircraft, the Tucker XP-57, which the U.S.A.A.C. took an interest in. Again, this n...
But as the war came to an end, so did the need for a flying wing aircraft. Still, Jack Northrop was convinced that...
It all started in 1924, at Macon, Georgia and back then it was not called Delta. It went by the name of Huff-Daland Dusters. Its main purpose was for aerial crop dusting to fight against insect infestation on cotton fields. The idea of deploying chemical from above to treat the infestation problem was introduced by a government entomologist Dr. Coad. After a brief research period, a contract was awarded to Huff-Daland Manufacturing to design an aerial delivery method. Huff-Daland designed and produced duster biplanes based on the Petrel 5, which was used by the navy. In 1923, Mr. Woolman, an agricultural engineer came to Huff-Daland from The Department of Agriculture. Three years later the company moved to Monroe, Louisiana. Since the crop dusting business was periodic, Mr. Woolman looked for other ways to maintain their business practices. As a result, they decided to add Peru into the mix since the seasons were opposite. During his mission in Peru, he saw another opportunity to expand the company’s business, by providing passenger air travels service. After while things started to go down hill for the company due to the political change in Peru. As a result, Mr. Woolman sold most of the crop dusting equipment and some of the Air travel assets to Peruvian company (“Huff-Daland Duster,” n.d.).
Back in the 1920’s when commercial aviation was a fairly new technology it was a slow business. In the 1930’s, the DC-3 was introduced and the airline industry started to become more profitable. The original DC-1 and its successor the DC-2 were both well known planes during their times. Since Douglas was well known for their prowess in engineering, American A...
, which would later become the U.S. Air Force. However, planes were mostly contraptions made of wood, wire, and cloth (Waller 3). Given that airplanes were small and weak at his time, Mitchell's ideas were both doubted and rejected. Mitchell was often impatient and rude to his superiors seeing that the majority was ignorant in becoming aware of air power. William Billy Mitchell, a controversial military U.S. General, valued the importance and necessity of aviation, which influenced the U.S. Army to later make a separate division for airplanes called the U.S. Air Force.
The Kitty Hawk Flyer had a huge impact on America's military. The U.S. Smithsonian Institution describes the aircraft as "the first powered, heavier-than-air machine to achieve controlled, sustained flight with a pilot aboard" (Walt). Features that made the Flyer a notable success were its highly efficient propellers, which resulted from the Wrights' wind-tunnel tests and the marginal power that was delivered by their early "homebuilt" engines. The Wright brothers' planes attracted contracts from the armed forces; after the 1905 flying season, the U.S. Army Signal Corps contacted them, requesting an aircraft. All airplanes nowadays, both for commercial and military use, evolved from the Kitty Hawk Flyer. America's advanced aviation during
The Boeing Corporation is one of the largest manufacturers in the world. Rivaled only by European giant Airbus in the aerospace industry, Boeing is a leader in research, design and manufacture of commercial jet airliners, for commercial, industrial and military customers. Despite enjoying immense success in its market and dominating an industry that solely recognizes engineering excellence, it is crucial for Boeing to ensure continued growth through consistent strategy formulation and execution to avoid falling behind in market share to close and coming rivals.
World War One caused the production of aircraft. It also saw the development of the first unmanned aircraft. Charles Kettering was an American inventor, he designed an unmanned aircraft known as The Kettering Torpedo or "The Kettering Bug". It could destroy an enemy miles away. It was the first drone of its time, using an onboard gyroscope that guided the drone to its location. The first test flight for the drone was on October 2nd 1918. The test failed because the drone flew too steep in the air, it stalled and eventually crashed. In 1916-1917 Elmer Sperry and Peter Hewitt developed an unmanned aircraft, known as the Hewitt-Sperry Automatic Aircraft. It was also piloted by gyroscopes and also with a barometer that could measure the altitude. The first
Their first planes were racers and seaplanes, excelling in speed and tight turn radius. The plane line caught the attention of the british military and the Royal Navy commissioned Sopwith to build a scouting sea plane. This would be the start of Sopwith working with the British government.To add to there resume Sopwith Aviation Company was one of the first successful aviation firms to exist, setting in place safety standards and other forms of industry standard. It was the war, however, that really gave the company their name as not many were wealthy enough to buy an new and rather expensive plane. From these humble beginnings the Sopwith company took off, so to
At the July Association of the United States Army (AUSA) Conference, LTG Ostrowski, the Army Acquisition Executive Lead, conveyed the Army’s need for future network solutions. It was also shared in the FY16 Presidential Budget that the Army has several budget requests for Communications systems and upgrades totally over $1.2B (Keller, J. , 2015). This is an opportunity for the Comms BU to expand its customer base in the U.S. Army market place. Northrop Grumman was ranked in the Top 5 of Aerospace and Defense Companies in Forbes America’s Best Employers list (2017). They were ranked over larger companies such as Boeing, Lockheed Martin and Raytheon. Their commitment to their employees, diversity, their customer and even the environment drives their culture. Northrop Grumman’s competitive advantage is leveraging the technology already developed and tested for the services (Air Force and Navy). Their experience with the Army is via services work where our people have gained the expertise to be the right people for working with the Missile Defense Agency. After analyzing both the internal and external environment of Northrop, their competitors and the analysis of their financial position, Northrop has developed a sustainable competitive advantage. They have done this through the use of product differentiation. The value they receive, the knowledge they gain and patents they own by acquiring other companies expands their portfolio to offer products and services not comparable to their competitors. Their respective strategic position establishes a value to their customers that is differentiated amongst their competitors, allowing them to offer a higher premium for their products and
Case 2 focuses on the Bayerische Motoren Werke (BMW) Company. My analysis will define each of the company's strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats as brought about within the case, as well as through additional research. The history of the Bavarian Motor Works is a history of innovation, dedication and determination. These achievements are reflected in the BMW emblem, symbolizing a rotating airplane propeller from BMW's early years as an aircraft engine manufacturer. Today, the emblem signifies a global company that annually produces hundreds of thousands of engines, motorcycles, and cars.
Although research of National Aeronautics and Space Administration's (NASA) government contractors over the last thirty years did not uncover any major allegations of shoddy workmanship or under spec deliverables, it did reveal serious issues with regard to billing fraud and huge bonuses paid out on over budget projects. Over the years there have been numerous allegations of fraud and abuse by NASA contractors. Finally in November 2000 the government was able to win a settlement against the Boeing Company of Seattle and the Houston-based United Space Alliance for a total of $825,000. In addition to the money that was awarded, these two companies agreed to forfeit any rights they have to collect on $1.2 million in unpaid invoices. This settlement was related to allegations that false claims had been submitted for work supposedly performed between 1986 and 1992 under the NASA Space Shuttle and Space Station Freedom programs. Originally, the Rockwell Space Operations Company (RSOC) was the contractor who was hired to manage the two programs. An RSOC sub-contractor, Omniplan Corporation, is accused of being involved in numerous fraudulent billing activities. The result of this fraud was that the United States was overcharged millions of dollars. The Boeing Company acquired RSOC in 1996 and at that time United Space Alliance took over the management of the two space programs. The government tried to sue Omniplan in 1993, but the company went bankrupt. In January 2000 the government then filed suit against RSOC claiming that they had submitted Omniplan’s false invoices. It is...
Metal 3D Printing Solution Reduced Lockheed Martin's Production Time by 80% and Costs by 55%. (2017). MAN: Modern Applications News, 11(18), 1.