Lockheed Martin Corporation
The Lockheed Martin Corporation, a merger of the Lockheed Corporation and Martin Marietta in 1995, is an American aerospace, defense, security, and advanced technologies company. In 1958, the Martin Company, Martin Marietta’s predecessor, was contracted by the U.S. Department of Defense to build a new nuclear missile to replace the aging Redstone missiles. Following the Soviet suppression of the Hungarian Revolution in 1956, the U.S. feared further Soviet expansion in Europe and determined it needed to introduce a new weapon into West Germany to deter the Soviets from pushing the Iron Curtain farther west. The new missile, named the Pershing, was installed in West Germany in 1964, and is credited with bringing the Soviet Union to the negotiating table which resulted in the signing of the Intermediate Nuclear Forces Agreement (INF). The Lockheed Martin Corporation received the Truman-Reagan Medal of Freedom in 2004.
