Aerospace & Defense
Northrop Grumman
30-Second Executive Brief
Executive Assessment
Northrop Grumman functions as a major institution within Aerospace & Defense, backed by 55% sourcing coverage, with accelerating strategic relevance.
- Maintains 2 mapped relationships across the graph
- 55% sourcing coverage across sourced relationships
- Tracked as major institution within the Aerospace & Defense category
Executive Snapshot
- Strategic Role
- Major Institution
- Sourcing Coverage
- 55%
- Ecosystem Influence
- Very High
- Strategic Momentum
- Accelerating
View Methodology →
Computed live from this entity's own relationships and evidence: how many relationships carry at least one linked citation, weighted with citation recency and source type — independent of Strategic Importance, and not a prediction. Not a hand-typed number; recalculated on every read.
Coverage
- Mapped Relationships
- 2
- Technology Domains
- 4
Strategic Implications
- Central node connecting multiple strategic ecosystems
- Directly influences technology and capital flows
- Material relevance to downstream dependency mapping
Top Opportunities
Top Risks
Critical Dependencies
Northrop Grumman is a major US defense contractor known for the B-21 Raider stealth bomber, Sentinel ICBM program, space systems and missile defense. The company reported a record $105 billion backlog in Q2 2026 (with 35% expected to convert to revenue within 12 months) and raised its 2026 revenue outlook to $43.5-44.0 billion; Aeronautics Systems sales grew 13% on higher B-21 Raider production volumes, and the B-21 program shifted from an operating loss to operating income, signaling maturing execution on one of its most critical long-cycle platforms.
Leading Indicators
Hiring and patent filing trends — the underlying numbers Momentum is computed from. Insider filing activity is tracked separately under Sources below.
Additional Intelligence Signals
Patent citation lineage, earnings-call mentions, and federal contract disclosures — automatically collected, not yet visible anywhere else on the site.
Federal contract disclosures
Department of Defense — $13,720,293,923: GROUND-BASED STRATEGIC DETERRENT (GBSD) ENGINEERING AND MANUFACTURING DEVELOPMENT (EMD) AND EARLY PRODUCTION AND DEPLOYMENT (P&D)
USAspending.gov · Sep 8, 2020
Department of Defense — $10,008,567,439: 200506!000026!5700!FA8214!OO-ALC/PKME/LMKE !F4261098C0001 !A!N! !Y! !P01502!20041213!20050701!001563738!004179453!016435559!N!NORTHROP GRUMMAN SPACE & MISSI!888 S 2000 E !CLEARFIELD !UT!84015!13850!011!49!CLEARFIELD !DAVIS !UTAH !-000001960000!N!N!000000000000!L014!TECH REP SVCS/GUIDED MISSILES !A2 !MISSILE AND SPACE SYSTEMS !302 !MINUTEMAN III GRP !541330!E! !3! ! !C! ! !20200930!B! ! !A! !A!N!L!2!002!B! !Z!Y!Z! ! !N!C!N! ! ! !A!A!A!A!000!A!C!N! ! ! ! ! ! !0001! !
USAspending.gov · Jul 1, 1998
Department of Defense — $8,485,334,620: E-2D ADVANCED HAWKEYE AIRCRAFT (FRP-7)
USAspending.gov · Feb 15, 2018
Department of Defense — $5,375,141,527: E-2D ADVANCED HAWKEYE AIRCRAFT (FRP-2)
USAspending.gov · May 13, 2013
National Aeronautics and Space Administration — $4,426,530,857: FIRST DDT AND E, ARES I-X, AND FLIGHT TESTS. FIRST STAGE WILL BE A FIVE SEGMENT, SOLID ROCKET BOOSTER DERIVED FROM THE SPACE SHUTTLE PROGRAM (SSP) SOLID ROCKET BOOSTER (SRB)/REUSABLE SOLID ROCKET MOTOR (RSRM). THE CONTRACTOR SHALL FURNISH THE NECESSARY MANAGEMENT, ENGINEERING, LABOR, FACILITIES, TOOLS, EQUIPMENT, AND MATERIALS REQUIRED FOR FIRST STAGE DEVELOPMENT, QUALIFICATION, CERTIFICATION AND ACCEPTANCE PROGRAM. ACTIVITIES INCLUDE: REDESIGN AND TESTING OF THE MOTOR TO INCORPORATE THE FIFTH SEGMENT AND PRODUCTION OF FIVE FULL SCALE GROUND STATIC TEST MOTORS: TWO DEVELOPMENT MOTORS (DMS)-AND THREE QUALIFICATION MOTORS (QMS); STRUCTURAL TEST ARTICLE (STA), GROUND VIBRATION TEST MOTORS (GVTMS) AND OTHER DEVELOPMENT TESTING; REDESIGN OF THE AVIONICS, DECELERATION, SEPARATION, AND FLIGHT TERMINATION SYSTEM (FTS) SUBSYSTEMS; ARES I-X: SIMULATED ARES I OUTER MOLD LINE/MASS PROPERTIES USING MODIFIED SRB/RSRM; AND THREE FLIGHT TEST VEHICLES. TAS::80 0124::TAS
USAspending.gov · Apr 17, 2006
Sources
Every claim traced to a primary source — evidence, recent activity, and insider filing behavior, all in one place.
Evidence
2 sources · 1 government/SEC filing
- Seeking Alpha — Northrop Grumman raises 2026 outlook as backlog hits record $105Bnews
- SEC EDGAR — Northrop Grumman Corp Form 10-Q Q2 2026government
Latest Activity
Insider Filing Activity
Counts filing frequency only — transaction direction/size wasn't parseable from the sampled filings · sourced from SEC EDGAR · as of Sep 7, 2026
Acquisition & Investment Fit
AI-reasoned, generated only from entities already in InsightNodes's own graph — a hypothetical strategic-fit exercise, not real M&A intelligence or a signal that any deal is planned or in progress.
Relationship Map
The relationships surrounding Northrop Grumman — ownership, dependencies, regulation, technology and market context. Click any node to make it the new center, 2 levels deep.
Connection type
Click any node to make it the new center. Scroll to zoom, drag to pan.
The Story So Far (last 6 months)
Auto-generated from this entity's dated milestones, relationship updates, and sourced evidence — not AI-written, just sorted.
Market Intelligence
UnverifiedCredibly-reported claims — analyst notes, sourcing citing “people familiar with the matter,” deals where the companies involved declined to comment — that haven't been officially confirmed. Kept structurally separate from the sourced evidence above; treat as a lead worth researching further, not an established fact.
B-21's swing to operating income is the clearer signal than the backlog record itself
36% confidenceNorthrop disclosed that the B-21 Raider program shifted from an operating loss to operating income as production volumes increased, alongside a record $105 billion backlog.
This is InsightNodes' own interpretive read: a large backlog on its own says little about profitability, but a cost-type development program crossing into operating income is a concrete signal that early-production cost overruns are being resolved -- historically the highest-risk phase for next-generation defense platforms -- which de-risks Northrop's multi-year B-21 revenue ramp more than the headline backlog figure does.
InsightNodes analysis of Northrop Grumman Q2 2026 results · Aug 14, 2026
Northrop Grumman's Timeline
A sourced, dated history of Northrop Grumman's key moments — founding to present.
Jul 2026 · B-21 Raider program turns operating-income-positive on record backlog
Northrop Grumman reported a record $105 billion backlog in Q2 2026 and disclosed the B-21 Raider program shifted from an operating loss to operating income as production volumes increased.