Defense Contractor
Appears in 9 stories
Third of four Tranche 1 vendors; first 21 satellites launched Oct. 10; second plane of 21 planned
The U.S. Space Force's Space Development Agency (SDA) launched its fourth batch of Tranche 1 data transport satellites on Oct. 10. The 21 Northrop Grumman-built spacecraft bring the total on-orbit Tranche 1 satellites to 84.
Updated Yesterday
Developing YFQ-48A Talon Blue with company funding
Northrop Grumman's YFQ-48A Talon Blue flew itself on October 3 - taxiing, taking off, maneuvering, and landing with no pilot in the loop. The company-funded drone is Northrop's answer to losing the Air Force's first Collaborative Combat Aircraft (CCA) contract round.
Updated Oct 3
Lost F/A-XX competition to Boeing
Boeing won the U.S. Navy's contract to build the F/A-XX, its sixth-generation carrier-based fighter. The deal is worth more than $20 billion for full-scale development, including multiple test aircraft for ground, airworthiness, systems, and weapons integration testing.
Updated Sep 30
Provider of the Pegasus XL launch
LINK launched July 3, more than a week after the original target date, after weather on July 1 and a data review on July 2 each pushed the window back. Ground teams confirmed first contact with the spacecraft the same day.
Updated Jul 4
Supplies sensor payloads for the constellation
For decades, U.S. spy satellites were a handful of expensive giants, each roughly the size of a bus and worth billions. The National Reconnaissance Office is swapping that model for a swarm of small, mass-produced spacecraft.
Updated Jun 19
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
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
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
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
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