Northrop Grumman Corporation

What does Northrop Grumman own?
Northrop Grumman operates four sectors: Aeronautics Systems, Defense Systems, Mission Systems, and Space Systems. Major programs include the B-21 Raider bomber, Sentinel ICBM, Cygnus spacecraft, Triton and Global Hawk drones, and solid rocket motors.

Is Northrop Grumman publicly traded?
Yes. Northrop Grumman trades on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol NOC and is a component of the S&P 500. Its shares are widely held by institutional investors.

Who founded Northrop Grumman?
The company was formed in 1994 when Northrop Corporation acquired Grumman Corporation for approximately $2.1 billion. Northrop was founded in 1939 by Jack Northrop and Grumman was founded in 1929 by Leroy Grumman.

Where is Northrop Grumman headquartered?
Northrop Grumman is headquartered in Falls Church, Virginia, USA. It moved its headquarters from Los Angeles to the Washington, DC area in 2011.

Who owns Northrop Grumman?
Northrop Grumman is owned by its public shareholders. Major institutional holders include Vanguard, BlackRock, and State Street. No single shareholder controls the company.

What is Northrop Grumman's revenue?
Northrop Grumman reported FY2025 sales of $42.0 billion, up 2% from $41.0 billion in FY2024. Net earnings were $4.2 billion and diluted EPS was $29.08. The backlog reached a record $95.7 billion.

How many brands does Northrop Grumman own?
Northrop Grumman operates under a single corporate brand organized into four business sectors. It does not own consumer brands; its public-facing identities are its sectors and major defense programs such as B-21, Sentinel, and Cygnus.

Northrop Corporation was founded in 1939 in Hawthorne, California by Jack Northrop, an aircraft designer who championed the flying wing concept decades before it matured into the B-2 Spirit stealth bomber. Grumman Aircraft Engineering Corporation was founded in 1929 on Long Island, New York by Leroy Grumman and built the Navy's carrier fighters of World War II, then the Lunar Module that carried Apollo astronauts to the Moon.

In April 1994 Northrop acquired Grumman for approximately $2.1 billion, forming Northrop Grumman. The combined company then grew through a series of major acquisitions. In 1996 it bought the defense electronics business of Westinghouse. In 1997 it acquired Logicon. In 2000 it purchased Litton Industries for approximately $2.1 billion, gaining shipbuilding at Newport News and Ingalls as well as electronic systems. In 2002 it acquired TRW for approximately $7.8 billion, adding space systems, satellites, and missile defense work.

In 2007 the company acquired Scaled Composites, the Mojave-based experimental aircraft builder founded by Burt Rutan. In 2011 Northrop spun off its shipbuilding business as Huntington Ingalls Industries, exiting the Navy ship construction business it had acquired through Litton. The same year it moved its corporate headquarters from Los Angeles to Falls Church, Virginia to be closer to its government customers.

In 2018 Northrop acquired Orbital ATK for approximately $7.8 billion, gaining solid rocket motors, ammunition, missile defense interceptors, and the Cygnus spacecraft. That deal created what is now the Defense Systems and Space Systems sectors. In 2021 the company completed the sale of its IT and mission support services business to private equity firm Veritas Capital.

The defining programs of the last decade have been the B-21 Raider, which won the Long Range Strike Bomber competition in 2015 and flew for the first time in November 2023, and the Sentinel ICBM, awarded in 2020 as the Ground Based Strategic Deterrent. In July 2024 the Sentinel program triggered a critical Nunn-McCurdy cost breach, and the Pentagon restructured the program in 2025 while retaining Northrop as prime contractor.

Northrop Grumman publishes an annual sustainability report covering emissions, workforce safety, and governance. The company has set targets for reducing greenhouse gas emissions across its facilities and tracks progress against them in public disclosures.

As a defense contractor, its ESG posture is evaluated differently from consumer companies. The relevant frameworks are workplace safety, ethics and compliance, and responsible sourcing rather than consumer certifications. The company maintains an enterprise ethics program and reports through CDP.

The company's products are primarily weapons and defense systems, so the sustainabilityFlags field is omitted; no consumer-facing certifications apply. Arms trade critics include major defense contractors in divestment screens, and some institutional investors exclude defense stocks on ethical grounds.

• Fortune 500: Northrop Grumman ranks consistently among the top 120 US companies by revenue.
• Fortune Most Admired Companies: The company regularly appears in the aerospace and defense industry rankings.
• Collier Trophy contributions: Northrop programs and predecessor companies have been associated with multiple Collier Trophy-winning programs, including the B-2, Apollo Lunar Module (Grumman), and James Webb Space Telescope (as prime contractor for the observatory).
• Diversity and employer recognition: The company has been named to various best-employer lists for veterans, engineers, and women in STEM.

Sentinel Nunn-McCurdy breach: In July 2024 the Sentinel ICBM program exceeded its cost baseline by enough to trigger a critical Nunn-McCurdy breach, requiring the Secretary of Defense to certify continued need and restructure the program. The Pentagon completed the restructure in 2025 with higher estimated total costs, driven largely by silo and launch facility construction rather than the missile itself. Northrop remains prime contractor.

B-21 cost charges: Northrop has recorded periodic charges on the fixed-price portions of B-21 development and early production lots, reflecting inflation and supplier costs. Management has indicated these charges may recur as low-rate initial production proceeds.

Whistleblower and contract disputes: Like other large contractors, the company periodically resolves False Claims Act matters and contract disputes with the Department of Justice, none individually material to the business in recent years.

Ethical investment screening: As a producer of nuclear delivery systems, cluster-capable munitions legacy programs, and autonomous weapons research, the company is excluded from some institutional ESG portfolios. This is a structural feature of the defense sector rather than a discrete controversy.