Helping Suppliers Reduce Carbon Emissions

Lockheed Martin launched the RENEWAY program that provides U.S. and international suppliers across the aerospace and defense industry a runway to educational resources and action pathways for reducing carbon emissions by accelerating the adoption of renewable electricity. The program, managed by Schneider Electric, provides critical resources and expert consultation for suppliers at any stage of their decarbonization journey to navigate the array of options within the renewable energy market and create a procurement strategy. In the initial launch in 2023, Lockheed Martin invited 2,000 small manufacturing suppliers to the program, while making RENEWAY available to all suppliers on our website. Suppliers gain critical support and renewable electricity education at no cost to them through corporate sponsorship. This program was spotlighted as a best practice at the 2023 International Aerospace Environmental Group (IAEG) conference in London with the intent to encourage other aerospace and defense companies to join Lockheed Martin as sponsors.

Building a Culture of Structured Energy Improvement

Lockheed Martin Aeronautics Air Force Plant #4, located in Forth Worth, Texas, is recognized by the U.S. Department of Energy as a 50001 Ready site for measuring and improving performance over time. Plant #4 leveraged its long-standing energy management program to earn 50001 Ready, which promotes structured energy improvements that lead to deeper and sustained energy and greenhouse gas (GHG) savings. For example, the site boasts a sophisticated energy management control system with more than 350,000 control points, conducts regular energy audits, and uses demand and control for chilled water. It also leverages two thermal energy storage tanks to allow the chilled water supply system to be turned off or operated at reduced load during the hours of peak utility rates during extreme weather events like storm Uri in 2021. This resulted in estimated savings of approximately $4.5 million. Plant #4 also has four ENERGY STAR®-certified buildings totaling over 1.1 million square feet. In addition to energy savings, the plant observes improvements in production quality and elevated awareness among staff regarding energy use optimization and related impacts.

The Lockheed Martin RMS Sikorsky Plant, located in Bridgeport, Connecticut, has achieved the ENERGY STAR® Challenge for reducing its energy intensity by 13% in two years. The Challenge is a national call-to-action to improve the energy efficiency of America's manufacturers, whereby participants set a goal to reduce their energy intensity by 10% or more within five years. The reduction is proved by an energy model that is normalized for weather and production to isolate the savings associated with energy efficiency and validated by a professional engineer. The energy and cost savings at Bridgeport are attributed to two major efficiency projects: a conversion to LED of the sites’ entire lighting system, as well as the replacement of steam vaporizers with outdoor ambient air vaporizers which allows boilers to shut off in the summer months. These projects demonstrate our commitment to reducing energy use and greenhouse gas emissions through energy efficient operations and best practices.

Promoting Waste Reduction

The Zero Waste Challenge is an annual competition to recognize waste reduction projects and to encourage waste reduction behaviors. Any project that eliminates or reduces a waste stream or that reuses or recycles materials is eligible to win. Each year, seven projects are selected based on scoring criteria and a popular vote. In 2023, we received a record 34 submissions, up 79% from 2021. Winning projects include a paperless formal qualification test, a wood reel reuse project that annually eliminates over 13,000 pounds of waste and an oil filtration system that avoids the loss of almost 2,000 gallons of mist each year.

Ensuring Remediation and Restoration

In 2023, after completing five years of post-remediation site monitoring and restoration, Lockheed Martin began conducting annual site inspections for erosion and control of invasive species at the Bloody Brook site in New York. The RMS site in Syracuse, New York underwent over 15 years of investigations and, ultimately, remediation after elevated cadmium levels were detected in the brookside bank soils and sediments downstream of the Electronics Park facility in 1996. The cleanup, which began in 2014 and was completed in 2018, included soil and sediment removal in the brook, as well as in wetland, wooded, residential and commercial areas. Restoration of these areas involved not only structural components (e.g., rock banks and concrete culverts) to protect the brook banks and reduce flooding in the community, but also extensive vegetative restoration including expanded wetland coverage and the addition of diverse native vegetation. After years of remediation and restoration under the direction of the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation, the project team has successfully restored the brook, wetland and surrounding areas to an enhanced, natural state.

Around a dozen volunteers from Lockheed Martin came together in November 2023 to plant trees in Canopy Hoover Park in Palo Alto, California.

Strengthening Communities

The mission of the Lockheed Martin Space Sustainability Employee Network (SSEN), which has over 680 members, is to foster innovation, integrity and security to protect the environment, strengthen communities and propel responsible growth. SSEN programs focus on activities that improve our employee perspectives as well as empower employees to make sustainable changes in their professional lives by offering knowledge sharing events, community events and sustainable events. These include beach and park clean-ups, oyster gardening and reef building, hiking trail maintenance, habitat restoration, forest fire mitigation, tree planting and recycling events. The SSEN further sets a high focus on education and awareness by providing tips on how to reduce carbon emissions at work and at home, for example via plant-based nutrition and recipes. In 2023, SSEN organized more than 30 events and club sessions. SSEN has continuously shown growth in membership, events and communications, as well as providing valuable information, learning and opportunities regarding sustainability and the environment at Lockheed Martin, locally and globally.

Inspiring Students Through a Solar Car Challenge

Lockheed Martin was a sponsor of the 2023 Solar Car Challenge in Fort Worth, Texas, which teaches high school students how to build and safely race roadworthy solar vehicles. The 300 student participants from around the country discovered the importance of teamwork while also learning about operating systems and alternative fuels. Lockheed Martin employees volunteered as judges during the qualifying rounds at the Texas Motor Speedway, before the 20 teams headed out onto the road. The teams drove nearly 500 miles during the competition, which ended early in El Paso, Texas, due to an outbreak of the COVID-19 virus.

Improving Data Quality and Protecting Intellectual Property

After achieving our Sustainability Management Plan Tier 1 Data goal in 2022, to identify all data objects for common definition and assign data stewards, we turned our attention in 2023 to prioritizing our new data catalog by level of importance to ensure all data is consistently defined. Ensuring users can understand what the data is, what it means and how it is defined promotes uniformity and trust of the data enterprise-wide. In 2024, business rules for data quality will be created so if the rules are not followed, data entries cannot be created, thus ensuring adherence and cohesion of data.

As a U.S. government prime contractor and supplier, Lockheed Martin collaborates with our government customers and industry counterparts to balance our customers’ mission objectives with the strategic protection of industry-developed intellectual property. We actively engage with our customers and industry partners to develop common approaches and standards that will facilitate the customer’s acquisition of the data and technology needed to support their missions. This includes implementing model-based engineering, leveraging artificial intelligence capabilities, implementing Modular Open Systems Architectures (MOSA) and utilizing model-based acquisition. Internally, we have implemented proactive identification and tracking of all company-funded intellectual property assets and associated data rights and licenses that we grant in these assets to customers and other third parties. We also continue to define and implement heightened categories of protection for critical types of Lockheed Martin proprietary information to increase our ability to protect intellectual property as a business asset and maximize our competitive position. In 2022, we achieved our Sustainability Management Plan goal to deploy an intellectual property protection hierarchy with tiered protection of intellectual property data assets based on their classification within that hierarchy.

Receiving Recognition for a Best Invention

The X-59 experimental supersonic aircraft, built by Lockheed Martin Skunk Works® and NASA Aeronautics, was selected as one of the “Top Inventions of 2023” by a popular news magazine in the transportation category of its Best Inventions issue. Nominations are judged on several key factors, including originality, efficacy, ambition and impact. The one-of-a-kind X-59 was chosen based on these factors as it is designed to transform the future of commercial supersonic flight over land, addressing one of the most persistent challenges of advancing aviation: quieting the sonic boom. The X-59 will be unveiled to the public in early 2024 at a ceremony in Palmdale, California, before taking its first flight later in the year. It will be flown over communities across the United States and response data will be collected on the acceptability of a quiet sonic thump generated by the unique design of the aircraft. This breakthrough has the potential to open the door to an entirely new global market for aircraft manufacturers, enabling passengers to travel anywhere in the world in as little as half the time it takes today. The X-59 is the centerpiece of NASA’s Quesst mission.

Innovating Technology and Safety Processes

Lockheed Martin is a leader in technological advancements, as well as safety protocols to control hazards posed by new technology. While developing high-powered laser systems, our Lockheed Martin team realized that compliance with American National Standards Institute (ANSI) and Occupational Health and Safety Administration (OSHA) regulatory requirements did not fully eliminate risks to our employees and customers. A multidisciplinary group of experts, including academic thought leaders in high-energy laser systems, was assembled to investigate new standards to ensure the safety of those researching, producing and testing these systems. The result was the creation of a new class of lasers, Class 5, with additional requirements written in an ANSI-like format to append the current standards. In February 2023, the National Safety Council (NSC) announced Lockheed Martin as the 2022 recipient of the NSC Networks Innovation Award for this project.

Innovating Ergonomic Safety Improvements

The Lockheed Martin Ergo Cup competition fosters innovation of new ergonomic practices and processes to minimize ergonomic stressors experienced in the workplace. Individuals, teams, departments, facilities and business areas are encouraged to submit ergonomic innovations that have been designed and implemented. A record 77 innovations were submitted during our 11^th annual competition in 2023, with more than 2,000 employees voting to support their favorite submissions. The winning idea – a pinch-preventing hand saver – came from a team at our Space Waterton Campus in Colorado.

Performing with Integrity

Lockheed Martin hosted the sixth annual Ethics in Engineering Case Competition at our Center for Leadership Excellence (CLE) in February 2023. The annual event supports business ethics awareness and contributes to the ethical development of the future workforce while strengthening our academic partnerships. This year, our competition experienced exponential growth with over 70 colleges and universities from across the United States and one international team participating, which represents a 300% increase. The final competition round saw the U.S. Air Force Academy face off with Loyola University Maryland, with the U.S. Air Force Academy taking first place.