Jane Edwards
Defense contractors such as Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman and Boeing have started to step up efforts to compete in the space segment as they see new business opportunities in the market, Space News reported Thursday.
Bruce Tanner, chief financial officer at Lockheed, said at an earnings call Tuesday the company intends to spend up to $200 million on space facility upgrades and other capital improvement efforts over the next two years.
Lockheed CEO Marillyn Hewson told analysts that the company and NASA engineers at Florida-based Kennedy Space Center have begun to initiate the vehicle management systems, data and power units for the Orion crew module as part of the agency’s deep space exploration program.
Boeing CEO Dennis Muilenburg said Wednesday at the third-quarter earnings call that the company plans to offer health monitoring tools and other information-based platforms for spacecraft and airplanes as part of Boeing’s growth strategy.
Wes Bush, CEO of Northrop Grumman, told analysts that this is the right time to be engaged in the space market since everyone now understands and recognizes the vulnerability of space assets.
“So we’re at the dawn of a dramatic shift in the way that our architecture for our space assets is being assessed,†Bush added.
Bush noted that he expects Northrop to complete its purchase of Orbital ATK by the first half of 2018.
