Latest news with #JointAirtoSurfaceStandoffMissile
NDTV
9 hours ago
- Business
- NDTV
Trump's 2026 Defence Plan: More Drones, Fewer Ships And F-35s
Washington: US President Donald Trump wants a pay raise for troops, more high-tech missiles and drones in next year's defense budget, while cutting Navy jobs, and buying fewer ships and fighter jets to save money, according to budget materials posted Wednesday. At $892.6 billion, the defense and national security budget request is flat compared with this year. The budget, which also includes nuclear weapons-related activities carried out by the Department of Energy and increases funding for homeland security, puts Trump's mark on the military by pulling funds away from weaponry and services to fund his priorities. The White House said the funding will be used to deter Chinese aggression in the Indo-Pacific, and revitalize the defense industrial base. Most of the funding for Trump's marquee Golden Dome missile defense shield was included in a separate budget request and is not part of the latest proposal sent to Congress. In the 2026 budget, Trump requested fewer F-35 jets made by Lockheed Martin and only three warships. Procurement of a Virginia-class made by General Dynamics and Huntington Ingalls Industries and 15 other ships are expected to be included in a separate appropriation bill, the Navy said. The budget asks for a 3.8% pay raise for troops, but also trims costs by retiring older weaponry including ships and planes that are more expensive to operate. Under the plan, the Navy will reduce its civilian employee workforce by 7,286 people. Compared to Biden's budget from his last year in office, which had asked for 68 F-35 jets in fiscal 2025, Trump's fiscal 2026 request seeks only 47 of the fighter jets. The budget has already sparked debate on Capitol Hill where the House Appropriations Committee's Defense subcommittee's draft bill for fiscal-year 2026 boosts the F-35 buy to 69, one more than Biden's 2025 request. The Pentagon continues prioritizing purchasing munitions and key weapons systems. The Air Force is continuing its investment the Joint Air to Surface Standoff Missile - Extended Range and Long Range Anti-Ship missile which have longer ranges and can be more effective in the Pacific. On the other hand, the budget seeks far fewer Precision Strike Missile, which will replace the Army Tactical Missile (ATACM) used in Ukraine. Lockheed Martin makes all three missiles. The budget also boosts spending on small drones - in part because of lessons learned in Ukraine where unmanned aircraft have proven to be an integral part of low-cost, yet highly effective warfighting. The detailed request comes as Republicans debate defense spending priorities in their sweeping $150 billion defense package contained in the pending "One Big Beautiful Bill Act". The act has already been passed the House of Representatives and will give an initial $25 billion boost to Trump's controversial Golden Dome missile defense shield. Defense spending usually accounts for about half of the US discretionary budget; the rest goes to transportation, education, diplomacy and other departments.
&w=3840&q=100)
Business Standard
15 hours ago
- Business
- Business Standard
Trump wants more drones, missiles, fewer F-35s in $893 bn budget request
US President Donald Trump wants a pay raise for troops, more high-tech missiles and drones in next year's defence budget, while cutting Navy jobs, and buying fewer ships and fighter jets to save money, according to budget materials posted Wednesday. At $892.6 billion, the defense and national security budget request is flat compared with this year. The budget, which also includes nuclear weapons-related activities carried out by the Department of Energy and increases funding for homeland security, puts Trump's mark on the military by pulling funds away from weaponry and services to fund his priorities. The White House said the funding will be used to deter Chinese aggression in the Indo-Pacific, and revitalize the defense industrial base. Most of the funding for Trump's marquee Golden Dome missile defense shield was included in a separate budget request and is not part of the latest proposal sent to Congress. In the 2026 budget Trump requested fewer F-35 jets made by Lockheed Martin and only three warships. Procurement of a Virginia-class made by General Dynamics and Huntington Ingalls Industries and 15 other ships are expected to be included in a separate appropriation bill, the Navy said. The budget asks for a 3.8 per cent pay raise for troops, but also trims costs by retiring older weaponry including ships and planes that are more expensive to operate. Under the plan, the Navy will reduce its civilian employee workforce by 7,286 people. Compared to Biden's budget from his last year in office, which had asked for 68 F-35 jets in fiscal 2025, Trump's fiscal 2026 request seeks only 47 of the fighter jets. The budget has already sparked debate on Capitol Hill where the House Appropriations Committee's Defense subcommittee's draft bill for fiscal-year 2026 boosts the F-35 buy to 69, one more than Biden's 2025 request. The Pentagon continues prioritizing purchasing munitions and key weapons systems. The Air Force is continuing its investment the Joint Air to Surface Standoff Missile. Extended Range and Long Range Anti-Ship missile which have longer ranges and can be more effective in the Pacific. On the other hand, the budget seeks far fewer Precision Strike Missile, which will replace the Army Tactical Missile (ATACM) used in Ukraine. Lockheed Martin makes all three missiles. The budget also boosts spending on small drones - in part because of lessons learned in Ukraine where unmanned aircraft have proven to be an integral part of low-cost, yet highly effective warfighting. The detailed request comes as Republicans debate defense spending priorities in their sweeping $150 billion defense package contained in the pending "One Big Beautiful Bill Act". The act has already been passed the House of Representatives and will give an initial $25 billion boost to Trump's controversial Golden Dome missile defense shield. Defense spending usually accounts for about half of the US discretionary budget; the rest goes to transportation, education, diplomacy and other departments. (Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
The Star
16 hours ago
- Business
- The Star
Trump wants more drones and missiles, fewer F-35s in $893 billion budget request
WASHINGTON (Reuters) -U.S. President Donald Trump wants a pay raise for troops, more high-tech missiles and drones in next year's defense budget, while cutting Navy jobs, and buying fewer ships and fighter jets to save money, according to budget materials posted Wednesday. At $892.6 billion, the defense and national security budget request is flat compared with this year. The budget, which also includes nuclear weapons-related activities carried out by the Department of Energy and increases funding for homeland security, puts Trump's mark on the military by pulling funds away from weaponry and services to fund his priorities. The White House said the funding will be used to deter Chinese aggression in the Indo-Pacific, and revitalize the defense industrial base. Most of the funding for Trump's marquee Golden Dome missile defense shield was included in a separate budget request and is not part of the latest proposal sent to Congress. In the 2026 budget Trump requested fewer F-35 jets made by Lockheed Martin and only three warships. Procurement of a Virginia-class made by General Dynamics and Huntington Ingalls Industries and 15 other ships are expected to be included in a separate appropriation bill, the Navy said. The budget asks for a 3.8% pay raise for troops, but also trims costs by retiring older weaponry including ships and planes that are more expensive to operate. Under the plan, the Navy will reduce its civilian employee workforce by 7,286 people. Compared to Biden's budget from his last year in office, which had asked for 68 F-35 jets in fiscal 2025, Trump's fiscal 2026 request seeks only 47 of the fighter jets. The budget has already sparked debate on Capitol Hill where the House Appropriations Committee's Defense subcommittee's draft bill for fiscal-year 2026 boosts the F-35 buy to 69, one more than Biden's 2025 request. The Pentagon continues prioritizing purchasing munitions and key weapons systems. The Air Force is continuing its investment the Joint Air to Surface Standoff Missile – Extended Range and Long Range Anti-Ship missile which have longer ranges and can be more effective in the Pacific. On the other hand, the budget seeks far fewer Precision Strike Missile, which will replace the Army Tactical Missile (ATACM) used in Ukraine. Lockheed Martin makes all three missiles. The budget also boosts spending on small drones - in part because of lessons learned in Ukraine where unmanned aircraft have proven to be an integral part of low-cost, yet highly effective warfighting. The detailed request comes as Republicans debate defense spending priorities in their sweeping $150 billion defense package contained in the pending "One Big Beautiful Bill Act". The act has already been passed the House of Representatives and will give an initial $25 billion boost to Trump's controversial Golden Dome missile defense shield. Defense spending usually accounts for about half of the U.S. discretionary budget; the rest goes to transportation, education, diplomacy and other departments. (Reporting by Mike Stone in Washington; editing by Chris Sanders and Lincoln Feast)
Yahoo
29-03-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Why Is the U.S. Air Force Buying $1.9 Billion in New Missiles From Lockheed Martin?
Big contract announcements at the U.S. Pentagon can clue investors in to the potential for lucrative stock wins from the companies that win those contracts. It doesn't always work this way, but it does sometimes. That's why I'm paying attention now to one of the biggest weapons contracts announced by the Department of Defense in recent weeks: A March 13 order from the Air Force instructing Lockheed Martin (NYSE: LMT) to proceed with production of order "Lot 23" of the Joint Air to Surface Standoff Missile (JASSM) and also order "Lot 9" of the Long-Range Anti-Ship Missile (LRASM), and to prepare for subsequent lots as well. Both these missile types have been requested by Ukraine for use in its defensive war against Russia. Additionally, both weapons systems fit within the Pentagon's plans to improve the United States' long-range strike capabilities in the Pacific theater. The Pentagon did not specify precisely how many missiles Lockheed will be building, and amounts appear to vary from lot to lot. However, a 2023 Defense Department document described the sizes of production lots as ranging from 550 to 810 missiles per JASSM lot, and from 120 to 240 missiles per LRASM lot. We also know much more precisely what the Pentagon plans to pay for these missiles: $1.9 billion. The Pentagon's contract announcement also clarifies that the production lots in question are part of a bigger rearmament project that has the Air Force ordering $5.2 billion worth of the missiles in total. And with three more production lots each anticipated for both the JASSM and the LRASM, it's likely the size of this contract -- and its value to Lockheed Martin -- will continue to grow. But precisely how much can contracts like these move the needle at a giant defense company like Lockheed, which did $71 billion in defense business last year, and recorded more than $5.3 billion in profits from it? That's actually harder to determine than you might think. Most years, Lockheed Martin's missiles and fire control division (MFC) is a pretty great business. From 2019 through 2023, according to data from S&P Global Market Intelligence, MFC rang up $7.8 billion in operating profit on $58.7 billion in revenue, earning an outstanding 13.3% operating profit margin on this part of its business. In the final quarter of 2024, however, something went seriously awry at MFC. Without warning, the company took an $804 million charge to earnings for this division -- and only this division. All on its own, this charge drove a 23% year-over-year decline in Lockheed's annual profit for 2024, despite revenues rising 5% last year, and MFC revenues in particular rising 13%. Lockheed blamed the decline on "$1.4 billion in losses on a classified program," about which it would say no more. Presumably, JASSM and LRASM are not part of this classified program ... because, well, we know what these missiles are called. They're not classified. And if these particular missiles are unconnected to what required Lockheed to take that charge last quarter, it makes sense to assume that higher production rates of them would still be good news for Lockheed, and that MFC will continue to produce its enviably high 13.3% operating profit margins for Lockheed Martin shareholders. At $1.9 billion in revenue, the two lots of missiles in question should contribute more than $250 million to Lockheed Martin's annual profit. I wouldn't necessarily call this an incremental increase in profits, however. As just two lots in a long string of missile lots previously delivered, these latest orders will more likely simply replace past orders, and keep the revenue stream flowing. That's still good news, of course. It's just probably not needle-moving news. For this reason, it leaves the way I value Lockheed Martin stock unchanged. Lockheed stock trades at 1.5 times trailing sales, which is slightly more than its average valuation over the past 20 years by that metric, (and therefore not a bargain). Its price-to-earnings ratio is a bit less than 20 -- again, this seems somewhat expensive in light of analysts' forecasts for 13% long-term earnings growth and its 3% dividend yield. Finally, its free cash flow is roughly equal to its net income at present, giving it a price-to-FCF ratio of 20. While I find none of these valuations alarmingly expensive, neither do any of them scream "cheap" to me. For the time being, I'll be passing on Lockheed Martin stock. Before you buy stock in Lockheed Martin, consider this: The Motley Fool Stock Advisor analyst team just identified what they believe are the for investors to buy now… and Lockheed Martin wasn't one of them. The 10 stocks that made the cut could produce monster returns in the coming years. Consider when Nvidia made this list on April 15, 2005... if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you'd have $672,177!* Now, it's worth noting Stock Advisor's total average return is 815% — a market-crushing outperformance compared to 162% for the S&P 500. Don't miss out on the latest top 10 list, available when you join . See the 10 stocks » *Stock Advisor returns as of March 24, 2025 Rich Smith has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool recommends Lockheed Martin. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. Why Is the U.S. Air Force Buying $1.9 Billion in New Missiles From Lockheed Martin? was originally published by The Motley Fool Sign in to access your portfolio
