About Lockheed Martin Skunk Works®
I spent my career as part of the elite Skunk Works team. Despite having to operate in the shadows for the sake of national security, this division of Lockheed Martin Aeronautics Company is recognized as an innovation leader worldwide, using a streamlined management system to create aircraft that push technology and defy convention.
The Skunk Works was born out of our nation's need and one man's vision, initiating a 77+ year legacy of innovation.
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In the waning days of World War II, Nazi Germany was developing and fielding advanced technology weaponry that far exceeded the capabilities and even the foresight of the Allied war machine. Threatening our bomber fleet was a jet-powered fighter 100 miles per hour faster than our fastest propeller-driven fighter. Should the war drag on, the superior performance of this new weapon threatened Allied supremacy of the air and the invasion to free Europe. A countermeasure was urgently required – a jet fighter of our own.
There was virtually no understanding in the industry of exactly how to create a jet fighter and there was no time to waste in creating it. The response to this threat was met by Lockheed’s Clarence L. “Kelly” Johnson and his vision for a radical new program management and organizational construct. His team became the Skunk Works.
Kelly assembled a small team in a dedicated project area constructed of engine crates and canvas. Management, engineers, mechanics, and the airplane were mere steps from each other, providing the shortest possible lines of communication for rapid decision-making.
In only 143 days, the XP-80 Shooting Star jet fighter emerged from concept to flying reality. This feat was accomplished in complete secrecy.
The Skunk Works was just beginning. On each successive project the team carried the mantra “quick, quiet, quality”. Aircraft that changed world history were developed in a fraction of the time and for a fraction of the cost required by the rest of the industry.
Each new product represented a technological leap that the industry would consider impossible.
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The U-2 spyplane, developed in only nine months, provided President Eisenhower with the knowledge that the perceived lead that the Soviet Union publicly boasted in missiles and bombers was inaccurate. A version of the U-2 is in service today providing leadership with critical decision-making information.
The record holding SR-71 Blackbirds developed in the early 1960's increased the United States’ abilities to watch troublesome parts of the world with impunity for almost 30 years. The D-21, a stealthy unmanned spy plane that flew thousands of miles at three times the speed of sound – developed in the 1960’s.
In 1981, after only thirty-one months of development, the first F-117A Nighthawk, took to the skies and became the world's first operational stealth attack aircraft.
In the 1980’s, the Skunk Works teamed with General Dynamics and Boeing to create the prototype for the first supersonic low observable fighter, the YF-22. The F-22A Raptor, embodies speed, stealth, and lethality that provides the USAF unquestioned air dominance.
In the late 1990’s, the Skunk Works led the development of the X-35, flight testing technologies critical to the F-35 Lightning II, which is now in service with the USAF, USN, USMC, and a number of our allies.
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The Skunk Works began with the desperate need for a response to a threat, the vision of one man, the commitment of a company, and the trust of our government. The Skunk Works spirit lives today in the hearts and minds of the women and men who work daily to ensure our nation has the necessary capabilities to protect our freedoms and that of our allies.