Northrop Grumman

New Capabilities

Primary CRS cargo provider alongside SpaceX

For more than a decade, NASA has relied on private companies to haul groceries, lab equipment, and experiments to the International Space Station — a deliberate bet that commercial logistics would be cheaper and more reliable than government-built rockets. On April 11, 2026, Northrop Grumman's enlarged Cygnus XL spacecraft launched atop a SpaceX Falcon 9. It delivered roughly 11,000 pounds of science cargo, including hardware for quantum physics research and therapeutic stem cell production.

Updated May 31

Money Moves

Expanding solid rocket motor production capacity

For three decades, the Pentagon told defense contractors to consolidate. Now it's paying $1 billion to help one spin off, taking an equity stake in L3Harris's solid rocket motor business in January 2026 — the first time it has directly invested in a defense supplier. Congress passed an $838.7 billion FY2026 defense budget with $2.9 billion for munitions and industrial capacity expansion, while Raytheon announced five framework agreements to triple Tomahawk production and double AMRAAM output.

Updated May 22

New Capabilities

Strategic investor and manufacturing partner via Scaled Composites

The tube-and-wing aircraft design has dominated commercial aviation since the Boeing 707 entered service in 1958. JetZero, a Long Beach startup, just raised $175 million to challenge that 67-year-old paradigm with a blended-wing aircraft. The new design merges fuselage and wings into a single lifting surface, promising 50% fuel savings over conventional jets.

Updated May 21

Force in Play

Stock surged 8.3% on budget proposal after initial drop on buyback ban

Trump wants to spend $1.5 trillion on defense in 2027—a jaw-dropping 66% jump from this year's $901 billion. This would be the largest single-year defense increase since the Korean War.

Updated May 19