More than 10,000 AN/APR-39s have been produced over the past 50 years, but production slowed with planned new generations of integrated EW suites for helicopters – last century – including the US Army’s SIRFC and ATIRCM.

The deployment of AH-64A Apaches to Kosovo as early as 1999 showed that Apache pilots “had lost confidence” in the APR-39. The Apaches never went into battle, in large part due to the perceived inadequacy of the ECM suite. Again in 2001 in Afghanistan, Army pilots expressed little faith in the APR-39. The Army anxiously awaited the next generation of helicopter EW.

The first launch of a Falcon Heavy should take place this year. That’s a delay of about three years, as the test flight from Vandenberg AFB had originally been scheduled for 2013. A negligible delay, though, particularly for a vehicle of this size, power, and complexity—not to mention revolutionary low-cost structure. If it succeeds, Falcon Heavy will become the most powerful rocket in the world, with more than twice the payload lift capacity of an Ariane 5ES, a Delta IV-Heavy, a Proton M, or even the now-retired Space Shuttle. Ac-cording to SpaceX marketing literature, only the Apollo Saturn V rocket of the late-1960s and early-1970s has had a greater ability to deliver space payloads.

Funding began in FY09 for development of the US Navy's Next Generation Jammer (NGJ), intended to replace (or possibly upgrade) the Growler's AN/ALQ-99 pods near the end of the decade, and also provide the Marine Corps with a JSF-mounted EA system to replace its Prowlers. Unlike the short shrift given to the almost-new EA-18G ICAP-III systems, NGJ has been something of a holy grail for the EW industry, with four teams (BAE Systems, ITT/Boeing, Northrop Grumman and Raytheon) funded for early development.

Strategy: Lockheed Martin is working to defend large fighter and transport aircraft programs such as the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter and the C-130 transport by performing well on its contracts while winning major new programs such as the next generation bomber (teamed with Boeing) and the Joint Light Tactical Vehicle.

Acquisitions will be small, niche acquisitions, particularly in information technology and systems integration while the company seeks to increase cash returned to shareholders through higher dividends and stock repurchases.