Lockheed Martin’s International Sales Topped $12.7Bln in 2016

Lockheed Martin has sold more than $12.7 billion worth of weapons and high-tech systems to international customers last year.

WASHINGTON (Sputnik) — Lockheed Martin, the biggest contractor to the US Department of Defense, has sold more than $12.7 billion worth of weapons and high-tech systems to international customers last year, company president and CEO Marilyn Hewson said on Tuesday.

"In 2016, our sales on the international front came to more than $12.7 billion, nearly 27 percent of our total sales," Hewson said in remarks published by the company. "[M]ore than 40 percent of our new business came from international customers."

The sales included a $1.5 billion contract for PAC-3 missile defense capabilities that included foreign military sales to five nations and a $1.2 billion contract with the South Korean Air Force to upgrade 134 of their F-16 aircraft, Hewson noted.

Lockheed Martin was also chosen to be combat systems integrator for the Future Submarine Program, the largest defense capital works program in Australia’s history and sold F-35 Joint Strike Fighters to Denmark, Israel, Turkey and the Netherlands, Hewson added.

Around half of all F-35 jet orders over the next five years are expected to come from international customers, Hewson concluded.