Jim Taiclet, CEO of Lockheed Martin, looks on during a visit at the Lockheed Martins Pike County Operations facility in Troy, Alabama, on May 3, 2022. AFP via Getty Images / NICHOLAS KAMM
New Lockheed Office Seeks Partnerships With Mid-Size Firms
It’s the company’s latest move to provide militarized commercial tech to the Pentagon.
Lockheed Martin has stood up an internal cell to create partnerships with mid-size defense, commercial, and space firms, the company’s CEO said Tuesday. It’s the latest move by the company to better position its business to deliver militarized commercial technology to the Pentagon.
Called LM Evolve, the group is meant to complement Lockheed’s venture capital arm, which primarily invests in startups. Earlier this year, LM Ventures doubled its fund from $200 million to $400 million. CFO Jay Malave will oversee LM Evolve, which “is just literally getting off the ground,” CEO Jim Taiclet said.
“What that's meant to do is to go … a step higher and say: ‘How do we do joint ventures or commercial alliances with midsized companies?’” Taiclet said Tuesday on the company’s quarterly earnings call with Wall Street analysts.
LM Evolve gives Lockheed “the framework, the structure and the ability to engage in that [mid-sized] level of investment,” Taiclet said.
In recent months, Lockheed has partnered with telecom giant AT&T to pass secure information to a Black Hawk helicopter using a 5G network. It’s also partnered with Verizon for 5G technology demonstration.
Taiclet said Lockheed also plans to “acquire small and medium companies with technologies or critical supply chain components that are available.”
But the company’s last attempt to do just that was not successful. In January, the Biden administration sued to block Lockheed’s $4,4 billion acquisition of Aerojet Rocketdyne. The Federal Trade Commission said that the deal would harm other companies by giving Lockheed a corner on the market since Aerojet also supplies other defense firms.