The work is to take place over a 10-year period.
The deal, valued around $7 billion, only contributes to Lockheed's growing worth. Lockheed Martin ranked first in the world in total arms sales in 2016, a December report by the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute found. With about 95,000 employees, Lockheed generated revenues of $40.8 billion last year while taking home a profit of about $5.3 billion.
The next largest defense company was Boeing, according to SIPRI, which earned about $29 billion in revenue on arms deals. Of the top 100 firms included in the survey, just six had arms sales in excess of $10 billion: Lockheed Martin, Boeing, Raytheon, BAE Systems, Northrop Grumman, General Dynamics and Airbus Group.
Due to the surge in terrorist activity worldwide and North Korea's growing missile capability to strike the US mainland, "America is leaving no stone unturned" in developing tactical defense systems, Zacks noted.
US Air Force F-22s experienced live combat as recently as December 1, when a Raptor destroyed a car with suspected Taliban insurgents inside in the area of Musa Qala, Afghanistan. In late November, an F-22 also bombed several buildings in Afghanistan the Pentagon said were used by the Taliban for narcotics trafficking.
