Northrop Grumman

Northrop Grumman

Northrop Grumman is a US defense prime listed on the New York Stock Exchange as NOC, formed in 1994 when Northrop acquired Grumman. It operates through four segments: Aeronautics Systems, which builds the B-21 Raider bomber and uncrewed aircraft; Defense Systems, covering weapons and mission readiness; Mission Systems, covering radar, sensors and networked systems; and Space Systems, which includes the Sentinel intercontinental ballistic missile programme and satellite work. A large share of its revenue comes from classified programmes it does not describe publicly.

Business and Financial Position

For the second quarter of 2026, ended 30 June 2026, Northrop Grumman reported sales of $10.9 billion, up 5 percent from $10.4 billion a year earlier. Operating income was $1.1 billion at a 10.1 percent margin, and diluted earnings per share were $7.68.

Net awards of $20 billion in the quarter lifted backlog to a company record of $104.7 billion as of 30 June 2026. The largest awards were $7.6 billion for Sentinel, $4.3 billion for restricted programmes at Aeronautics Systems and Space Systems, $1.0 billion for F-35, $0.8 billion for the Glide Phase Interceptor and $0.7 billion for the Multi-role Electronically Scanned Array.

The company raised its 2026 guidance alongside the results, to sales of $43.75 billion to $44.25 billion and mark-to-market-adjusted earnings per share of $28.60 to $29.10. Those are company targets, not results.

Why It Matters

Northrop Grumman has more credible uncrewed-aircraft heritage than most of its peers — Global Hawk, Triton, the X-47B carrier demonstrator and the MQ-4C line gave it years of experience flying large autonomous aircraft off the back of real programmes rather than concept work.

The risk is concentration, and Sentinel is where it sits. The programme is the largest single award in the quarter and also the company’s most troubled: the Air Force notified Congress in January 2024 of a critical breach of the Nunn-McCurdy Act after projected costs rose 37 percent, the Pentagon rescinded the programme’s Milestone B approval, and the restructuring that followed was still under way in 2026. Most of the growth has been attributed to the civil engineering work of refurbishing existing Minuteman III silos rather than to the missile itself.

The restricted-programme share of the backlog compounds this. Outside observers cannot assess what the company is building on those contracts or how well it is going, so a substantial part of the business has to be taken on trust.