12 Best Defense Stocks to Buy Right Now

4. Lockheed Martin Corporation (NYSE:LMT)

Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 73

Lockheed Martin Corporation (NYSE:LMT) is among the 12 Best Defense Stocks to Buy Right Now. On September 16, the company announced that it was awarded a contract to implement software upgrades for South Korea’s F-16 Block 52 flight simulators.

The upgrades will advance mission capabilities of the country’s F-16V aircraft, by providing high-fidelity simulated environments for pilots to train. This will be a six-year contract, under which Lockheed Martin Corporation (NYSE:LMT) will modernize nine F-16 flight simulators to the F-16V configuration. The company will also provide continued support for contractor logistics services.

Todd Morar, VP of Air and Commercial Solutions at Lockheed Martin Corporation (NYSE:LMT) stated the following on the contract:

“Maximum accuracy and realism in ground-based flight training is foundational to pilot safety and mission readiness. As the manufacturer of all F-16 variants, Lockheed Martin uses the design and software data of the actual aircraft to deliver ground-based training experiences that are nearly identical to those in flight, while maintaining concurrency with the aircraft as technology evolves.”

The F-16V configuration offers advanced avionics, a modernized cockpit, advanced weapons, and an Active Electronically Scanned Array radar, among other advancements, making them similar to the new F-16 Block 70 aircraft.

Since 2001, 16 allied nations’ aviators have trained with LMT’s F-16 training systems.