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Northrop Grumman Secures $1B Deal to Support F-16 Aircraft

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Northrop Grumman Corp.’s (NOC - Free Report) business subsidiary, Northrop Grumman Systems Corp., recently secured a $1-billion contract for the production of Active Electronically Scanned Array (AESA) radars. These radars will be installed in the Air Force’s F-16 aircraft, developed by Lockheed Martin (LMT - Free Report) .

The modification contract was awarded by the Air Force Life Cycle Management Center, Fighter Bomber Directorate, F-16 Division, Wright Patterson Air Force Base, OH.

Per the deal terms, Northrop Grumman Systems Corp will definitize all three phases of the program to include development and production of up to 372 AESA radars. Work related to the deal will be performed at Linthicum
Heights, MD, and is expected to get completed by May 2027.

A Brief Note on AESA Radar

Northrop Grumman has been a constant leader in providing multi-mission radar solutions from sea to outer space, over the last six decades. Its AESA Radars help in providing a high degree of resistance to electronic jamming
techniques and creating high bandwidth data links between aircraft and other equipped systems. These radars possess low interception capabilities compared with enemy radars. Furthermore, the improved radar technology enables fighter and legacy aircraft to quickly detect, track and identify a greater number of targets, and operate in hostile electronic environments.

What Favors Northrop Grumman?

In recent times, the demand for military radar systems has been on the rise, primarily resulting from growing cross-border disputes and rising global geopolitical instabilities. This significantly benefits defense giants like Northrop Grumman, which specializes in manufacturing complex and technologically-advanced radar systems. This, in turn, results in frequent contract wins, like the latest one.

Per Markets and Markets Research, the global military radar market is expected to reach $15.42 billion by 2022, at a CAGR of 3.38%. This indicates increased demand for ground and air-based radar systems. As one of the premier defense giants in the United States, Northrop Grumman is expected to benefit a great deal from such projections, given the huge opportunity for expansion that lies ahead.

Price Performance

Shares of the company have surged 55.3% in a year compared with the industry’s growth of 36.1%.




Zacks Rank & Key Picks

Northrop Grumman currently carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold).

A few better-ranked stocks in the same space are L3Harris Technology Inc (LHX - Free Report) and Leidos Holdings, Inc. (LDOS - Free Report) , each carrying a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.

L3Harris’ long-term growth estimate currently stands at 8%. The company delivered average positive earnings surprise of 5.02% in the last four quarters.

Leidos Holdings delivered average four-quarter earnings beat of 8.93%. It currently has a solid long-term earnings growth rate of 7.5%.

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