Lockheed Martin CEO sees Trump’s Pentagon as ‘golden opportunity’ for growth
Lockheed Martin’s CEO has called the Trump administration a “golden opportunity” for the company as it expands its contracting work for the federal government amid the conflict in the Middle East.In an earnings call on Thursday covering the first quarter of 2026, Lockheed Martin CEO Jim Taiclet told investors that the company is well positioned “based on more available resources for us”.“This is a golden opportunity right now based on who’s in government,” Taiclet said, citing “their experience, their willingness to change, the demand that they have for what we do and what our partners in our industry do”.He added that the company could move past the “burden” that came with government contracting and move it “towards a commercial contracting system”.“I’m encouraged by all of this in the evolving landscape,” Taiclet said.
Lockheed Martin’s relationship with the US government spans from producing the Orion spacecraft for the Artemis II mission to manufacturing top-secret missiles that have been used in the conflict with Iran,Since the start of the Iran conflict, the Pentagon has announced multiple contracts with the defense engineering company worth billions of dollars, on top of the existing contracts the government has with the company,Earlier this month, the Pentagon announced two huge contracts with the company: first, a $4,7bn contract to accelerate production of its Pac-3 missile segment enhancement interceptors, followed by a $1,9bn contract to continue its C-0130J maintenance and aircrew training systems used to train members of the military.
Though the company missed profit expectations for the first quarter due to lower volumes in its F-16 fighter jet program and other classified programs, the company still reported revenue of $18bn, similar to the first quarter of 2025.Lockheed Martin leaders told investors that a highlight for the company was the “real constructive engagement” between the company and the Pentagon that has allowed the company to build out a “more commercial-like business model for major weapons systems”.“It really hasn’t been done before, and that’s because the leadership of the department at this point is willing to engage in topics such as risk mitigation,” Taiclet said.For defense contractors like Lockheed Martin, scaling up production can come with high risks if, for example, the government terminates an order.But Taiclet told investors that the Pentagon has added a “recovery element” to its contracts with Lockheed Martin that would allow the company to receive payment even if a contract is eventually changed.
“If for whatever reason the government decides the production rate won’t be as high in year five, six, whatever, or there’s a change in Congress that changes that nature of how this agreement can actually be appropriated,” Taiclet said.“We will not be harmed by that.”The White House has been trying to get Congress to pass its requested $1.5tn budget for the Pentagon, which would be a $445bn increase from last year.The proposal doesn’t mention any money for the war with Iran, which Republicans are trying to fund using a budget reconciliation legislation that would allow them to bypass Democratic buy-in.
To offset the higher defense budget, the Trump administration has proposed cutting $73bn in domestic agencies that support key housing, health and education programs.At a private lunch last month, Trump reportedly said that the government’s spending focus should be on “military protection”, according to the New York Times.“It’s not possible for us to take care of daycare, Medicaid, Medicare, all of these individual things,” he said.“They can do it on a state basis.”
Some Interrail travellers told to cancel passports as hacked data posted online
Holidaymakers across Europe are facing the stress and expense of getting new passports after their personal data was posted on the dark web after a hack of the Interrail company Eurail.Personal data, including passport numbers, names, phone numbers, email and home addresses and dates of birth of more than 300,000 European travellers was accessed in December. But this week Eurail revealed to customers that “data copied during the security incident has been offered for sale on the dark web and a sample dataset has been published on Telegram”.The announcement has led to renewed anger and confusion. The UK Passport Office has told at least one customer they needed to “cancel their passport to prevent it being used for fraudulent activity”, with the Home Office agency also indicating they needed to pay the full £102 fee for a replacement
Chinese hackers using everyday devices to target UK firms, warns cybersecurity agency
British businesses are being urged to step up their vigilance against a China-linked hacking ploy that uses everyday devices for espionage.The UK’s National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) and agencies in nine other countries have warned of persistent attempts by Beijing-backed groups to hack equipment such as wifi routers to launch cyber-attacks.Known as “covert networks” or “botnets”, they typically target vulnerable equipment – for instance devices that have not had a software update or are old – as a base for staging activities such as surveillance and data theft.The NCSC said the technique was used by the majority of China-linked hackers. Richard Horne, the centre’s chief executive, said on Wednesday that China’s intelligence and military agencies had an “eye-watering level of sophistication in their cyber-operations”
Criminal gangs profiting as child sexual abuse websites double, experts say
The number of commercial child sexual abuse websites has doubled in a year as experts say that criminal gangs are making “huge profits” from online sexual exploitation.According to data collected by the Internet Watch Foundation (IWF), 15,031 commercial child sexual abuse sites were found in 2025, compared with 7,028 found in 2024, a 114% increase.An analyst who worked on the report but did not wish to be named said that this content exists “across all social media platforms” and is “very easy” to find.“I can find child sexual abuse content, the worst categories, category A content, which is penetration of children as young as babies on any social media platform in as little as one search term and two clicks,” said the analyst.“I think the public have this perception that this sort of material is hidden away in dark and dirty corners of the internet, but it’s not, it’s in plain sight
Tesla reports mixed financial results as Musk pivots automaker to AI and robots
Tesla reported its first-quarter earnings on Wednesday, disclosing some better-than-expected results but faltering in some key areas. The report failed to significantly buoy Tesla’s stock, which has limped along this year while its CEO, Elon Musk, has tried to sell the company’s new vision of humanoid robots and self-driving robotaxis. Its core car business has struggled in the face of competition from Chinese counterparts and backlash against his close involvement with the Trump administration.“There remains significant effort and hard work to realize our mission of Amazing Abundance,” Tesla said in its report, while claiming that demand for its vehicles was rebounding.Tesla revealed earnings of 41 cents a share on Wednesday after market close, more than the 37 cents per share that Wall Street expected
What is Mythos AI and why could it be a threat to global cybersecurity?
Anthropic has ruled out releasing its latest AI model, Claude Mythos, to the public because of the threat it poses to global cybersecurity.However, the US tech startup behind the Claude chatbot confirmed on Wednesday it was investigating a report that a group of people had gained unauthorised access to Mythos. The alleged incident has raised concerns over the pace of development and the ability of tech companies to keep their riskiest products out of the public domain. Here, we examine Mythos and its potential impact.Mythos is an AI model – the underlying technology that powers tools such as chatbots – that, according to Anthropic, represents a serious potential threat to any organisation’s cybersecurity
‘Get back to work’: Amazon faces fresh scrutiny over workplace safety record
Amazon, one of the world’s largest employers, has for years faced scrutiny over its safety record. When Billy Foister, a 48-year-old worker, died after a heart attack inside one of the tech giant’s warehouses in September 2019, managers were accused of telling staff to “get back to work”.When another worker died this month at a distribution center in Troutdale, Oregon, an Amazon spokesperson claimed they had collapsed from an “existing medical issue”. They denied a report that a nearby employee was told: “Please get back to work.”As Donald Trump’s administration continues to overhaul federal government oversight of workplace safety, workers inside Amazon and labor advocates say the company’s injury rates, and how it treats injured workers, remain a problem
Stock markets set to fall, Bank of England deputy governor warns; Trump threatens UK with ‘big tariff’ over digital services tax – business live
Retail sales rise as British motorists stock up on fuel
Grok tells researchers pretending to be delusional ‘drive an iron nail through the mirror while reciting Psalm 91 backwards’
Microsoft and Meta announce large staff reductions as they spend big on AI
Alcaraz must heed injury wake-up call as absence leaves hole in clay-court season | Tumaini Carayol
Chess: Turkey’s Yagiz Erdogmus, 14, reaches record 2700 rating – ‘now for 2800 and 2900’