"Lockheed Martin will lead with $52.5 billion in total funding, based on leadership in C4I (Command, Control, Communications, Computers and Intelligence), and dominant positions in electro-optics (EO) due to airborne fighter and attack helicopter targeting system markets, and in sonar due to A-RCI (Acoustic-Rapid COTS Insertion)," said Teal Group's senior electronics analyst and author of the new manufacturer market shares overview, Dr. David Rockwell.

"They will also hold a solid third in the radar market based on another dominant program, the naval AN/SPY-1 Aegis system," said Rockwell "Lockheed Martin has strengthened its future in many markets where it had previously been a minor player, only recently rising above Northrop Grumman and Raytheon in the overall electronics market future."

One analyst said Northrop would do well to focus on maritime capability. “The US Army likes the STARlite, but it could have a much bigger future if they can go maritime, which is what the US will need more of as it focuses on Asia,” said David Rockwell, an analyst at the Teal Group.

Raytheon’s Quiet Eyes is one of several examples of new directed energy weaponry, a munitions class that includes lasers, highpowered microwaves and particle beams. Spending on surface-to-air missile-zapping will average $830 million a year over the next decade, estimates Teal Group, a defense consultancy, up from $450 million today. Directed energy technology is wellrooted in many of the 2,900 “threat reduction” research programs at the Los Alamos National Laboratory. “We see a future in lower-cost systems, and Raytheon has both a head start and a very solid production base already with its [Sidewinder] missiles,” says David Rockwell, a senior electronics analyst at Teal. “It could be a big deal for them.”