Many defense contractors are avoiding projects that could turn into money-losers. Executives of U.S. defense contractors tried to reassure investors they wouldn’t chase projects that presented high risks for cost overruns. “We have passed on some high-profile programs," Northrop Grumman Chief Executive Kathy Warden said on an investor call last week. Lockheed Martin and RTX, the country’s two biggest defense contractors by revenue, are both nursing losses on fixed-price Pentagon contracts. The actual cost of the planes now being built by Northrop Grumman hasn’t been disclosed.

Source: Wall Street Journal January 30, 2024 20:48 UTC