Lockheed Martin Corporation
A maker of fighter jets like the F-35 and F-16, missile-defense systems such as THAAD, Sikorsky helicopters, and the Orion spacecraft for NASA astronauts. Created in 1995 from the merger of Lockheed Corporation and Martin Marietta, the company's name traces to brothers Allan and Malcolm Loughead, who changed the spelling to match how people mispronounced their surname. Its secretive Skunk Works division got its name from the foul-smelling plastics factory beside its workshop, a joke drawn from the comic strip Li'l Abner.