Friends who have lived in Iron Man movies or comics should know Stark Industries.
Iron Man is a mere mortal, but he can have a combat power comparable to Captain America, the Hulk, Thor, and other transformed people and gods, in addition to his own superior mind, to a large extent rely on the support of Stark Industry.
After all, whether it is armor, drones, and the black technology on Iron Man, they all need the strong financial resources and technological heritage of Stark Industries to provide support.
The company is set up in a hardcore setting, owned by Marvel's number one hero, Iron Man, known for developing weapons and selling arms, and is the largest ordnance group in the United States and even in the world.
In the real world, there is also a company similar to Stark Industries, Lockheed Martin (later referred to as Loma Company). Regarding this name, all military fans and friends must be like thunder. Even if you are not a military fan, as long as you are interested in the aerospace field, you should hear about it.
Like Stark Industries, Loma is also known for its weapons manufacturing, occupying the top position in the global military industry for many years, and is a proper global military leader.
At present, Loma corporation is the chief defense contractor of the United States, providing various equipment and technical support for the defense construction of the United States. According to statistics, about one-third of the annual procurement budget of the Pentagon in the United States goes into the pockets of the Lowmar Company. In other words, for every three dollars spent on equipment purchased by the U.S. military, one dollar went into the Pocket of Loma.
Of course, in the global arms market, Loma can still dominate. According to some data, Loma currently occupies about 40% of the global defense market, and Loma manufacturing can be found everywhere.
Loma's products cover a wide range, not only military aircraft, surface ships and other weapons and equipment, but also radar satellites, anti-missile systems and other advanced technologies, and even ballistic missiles, manned spacecraft are within its business scope. It is worth mentioning that Loma's products are not only wide-ranging, but also quite advanced in technology, basically at the forefront of various fields.
On this point, just look at the star products of The Loma Company.
For example, in the field of fighter aircraft, the world's first fifth-generation aircraft F-22 "Raptor" into service was produced by Loma. As a product more than 20 years ago, the Raptor is still one of the most comprehensive fighters in the world. In addition, another Stealth Fighter F-35 of the United States, is also a product of The Lowmar Company.
In the field of ballistic missiles, Loma has two major signs: "Hercules" intercontinental missiles and "Trident" series submarine-launched ballistic missiles. Among them, "Hercules" has ended early, and the "Trident" series is still the core of the US strategic power at present.
Of course, these products are only the tip of the iceberg in The Industrial Empire of Loma, and there are many similar equipment products, such as the "Orion" spacecraft, the Martin series of satellites, the Aegis anti-missile system, the Patriot anti-aircraft missile...
No wonder some people describe it this way: The US military has thousands of science and technology, and Loma accounts for half of it.
Obviously, such a Loma company, whether it is technological heritage or scale influence, is not lost to Marvel's Stark Industry. At best, it's just a lack of a talented and golden boss. It is no exaggeration to say that a company like Stark may have been modeled after the real-life company of Loma.
Loma is an established arms enterprise with a long history. Its establishment dates back to 1912, and it is a proper century-old signboard. At that time, the Rocksid brothers founded the predecessor of the Loma Company in California, the "Elco" Seaplane Company (later renamed Lockheed Company).
The seaplane company, as the name suggests, is the company that builds the seaplane. So Loma was not originally a weapons manufacturer, but a civilian aircraft manufacturer. In fact, at the time, the company didn't have much prospects. After all, it was in the early 20th century, less than 10 years after the Wright brothers invented the airplane in 1903, and the entire aircraft manufacturing industry was still in its infancy.
Moreover, the Lockheed brothers were not big chaebols, and they did not have much capital in their hands to give the company enough capital to invest. When the Lockheed brothers set up the company, they only had 1200 yuan of start-up capital.
Although the brothers, with their love for their dreams, have successively invented a number of "G-type", "S-1" and other aircraft that were quite competitive at that time. It even shined at the Panama Exposition. But the civilian company, which lacks the background and chaebol support, is ultimately a shabby industrial workshop that will hardly carry the dreams of the Lockheed brothers.
Especially in the 1920s, with the end of World War I, a large number of military aircraft were flowing into the market at low prices by the military, and Lockheed was in trouble. At the time, Lockheed's "S-1" plane sold for $2,500, while the government-handled military plane sold for just $300, which was clearly uncompetitive. Finally, in 1920, Lockheed declared bankruptcy.
It is worth mentioning that after the collapse of the company, his younger brother Malcolm was discouraged and switched to tinkering with cars. And the racing driver's brother Allen is not willing to fail, although he is forced by life to sell real estate, but he always wants to make a comeback. In 1926, he and his friend John Northrop co-founded an airplane company in Hollywood, still named Lockheed.
This partner at Lockheed needs to be mentioned to you. This man is not small, but he is a famous American aviation industry. Not only did he co-found Lockheed with Allen, but he also founded another aviation giant, Northrop, whose famous "B-2" bomber was a product.
Allen was clearly prepared this time, and soon after the company was founded, it launched a new aircraft, the "Vega". The aircraft was also popular at the time, with sales of more than $1 million at one point. Lockheed has also grown from a small workshop to a medium-sized company with more than 300 workers, and the future can be expected.
However, the good times did not last long, and as soon as Lockheed was doing well, it encountered the Great Depression that swept the world. It was a cold winter for the entire aviation industry, and Lockheed was no exception. It was first sold to Detroit Aircraft, then sold again due to the bankruptcy of the parent company, and sold for $42,000.
Thankfully, this time Lockheed did not go out of business, but the good guy survived, but the helmsman changed from Lockheed to the Glens Brothers.
Of course, the Glens brothers are still relatively generous, out of respect for their predecessors, they did not change the name of the company, but also hired founder Allen as the company's chief consultant.
As the saying goes, if it is difficult not to die, there will be a blessing. After a rough and tumble, Lockheed finally got on track in the hands of the Gross brothers and ushered in its own era.
After the Great Depression, Europe was full of war clouds, and the great powers began to stockpile weapons and equipment in large quantities. Lockheed was favored by the British arms procurement group and became a British equipment supplier. At that time, the British purchased mainly Hudson bombers converted from Lowe 14 airliners, each costing twenty-five thousand pounds.
Relying on the orders of the British, lockheed, which was originally a dismal business, not only came back to life, but also successfully achieved transformation, stepping into the high-yield industry of arms trafficking, laying the foundation for subsequent development.
In the ensuing World War II, Lockheed became the most important supplier of aircraft to the United States and the entire Allied forces. According to statistics, throughout World War II, Lockheed produced about 20,000 aircraft, including Hudson bombers, B-17 flying fortress bombers, and P-38 Lightning fighters, which is almost 60% of the total number of aircraft produced by the United States during World War II.
With this impressive achievement, Lockheed has successfully turned itself from a small company on the verge of closure to an arms manufacturer ranked first in the United States and the world.
Since then, Lockheed has been on a steady rise, and various classic equipment and products have emerged in an endless stream.
For example, in 1953, Lockheed developed the C-130 Hercules transport aircraft, which is another masterpiece of Lockheed after the "P-38 Lightning", which is highly versatile, reliable and very practical. Although it has been born for more than half a century, it is still used as a main transport aircraft by the United States and many countries, and it can be called the most successful transport aircraft in the world.
In 1955, the U-2 reconnaissance aircraft developed by Lockheed completed its first flight. This is a fighter with "high altitude" as the main selling point, which can perform tasks at an altitude of more than 20,000 meters. This height far exceeded the various fighters of the time. For example, the MiG-17, which claimed to be the best fighter in the Soviet Union at that time, could only rise to a height of 13,000 meters at most, and it could not reach the "U-2". In fact, even at the moment, there are not many fighters that can effectively intercept U-2 reconnaissance aircraft at high altitudes.
In 1963, Lockheed developed the SR-71 Blackbird reconnaissance aircraft. This is a higher high-altitude reconnaissance aircraft than the "U-2", with a maximum flight altitude of up to 30,000 meters and a maximum flight speed of more than 3.5 times the speed of sound. Both in height and speed, they are the first of their time. Even now, the Blackbird is flying higher and faster than most warplanes and anti-aircraft missiles. It is because of its excellent performance that the "Blackbird" has never been shot down in the air.
In the 1970s, Lockheed probably felt that it had achieved its best in the field of high altitude and high speed, so it began to look for new projects and stirred up stealth fighters. In the early 1980s, Lockheed successfully developed the F-117 Nighthawk attack aircraft, the world's first aircraft designed entirely with stealth technology. You know, that was 40 years ago, more than 20 years before the famous F-22 Raptor.
At this time, Lockheed was already the world's top defense supplier, but it was not the first. It was not until 1995 that Lockheed and Martin Mariet (later Martin) completed the merger to form the complete Loma Company.
Like Lockheed, Martin started with airplanes, and it's also a long history. In 1912, American aviation pioneer Glenn Martin founded the Glenn Martin Aircraft Company, which became the predecessor of martin company. Compared with Lockheed's ups and downs, Martin's development is relatively smooth. By the time Lockheed was still struggling with bankruptcy, Martin had become one of the most powerful aircraft manufacturers on the West Coast.
Therefore, during the Second World War, Martin Company naturally embarked on the road of arms dealers. However, Martin did not seize the opportunity to come up with a reliable product like Lockheed. The B-26 bomber, developed for the U.S. military, was controversial during service and faced several production suspensions.
The defeat in World War II made martin company after the war lose its competitiveness. Martin was forced to switch careers and shift its focus from aerospace manufacturing to space exploration.
After the change of career, Martin Company has a second spring, and has gone smoothly in the field of aerospace, and has gradually become one of the few aerospace giants in the United States.
Therefore, the "Loma" reorganization in 1995 can be regarded as a powerful combination. And this also pushed Loma to the top. After the reorganization, Loma is superior in strength, occupying the top position in the global military industry rankings for many years.
Today, Loma is already the world's number one defense company. It not only has a global defense trade network, but also has a deep technical background.
If nothing else, a single "skunk factory" is enough to make the rest of the world envious. The so-called "Skunk Factory" actually refers to a research and development project team of Loma Company, who specializes in the research and development of advanced weapons or military technology. Here gathers the best R&D team of Loma Company, and many star products of Luoma Company have been born.
For example, P-80 fighters, F-104 supersonic fighters, U-2 high-altitude reconnaissance aircraft, SR-71 strategic reconnaissance aircraft, F-117 stealth attack aircraft, F-35 Lightning II fighters, F-22 Raptor fighters and so on.
Many of these products can be called epoch-making technology symbols. For example, the P-80 Meteor was the first mass-produced jet fighter of the U.S. Military, while the F-117A was the world's first stealth fighter to enter actual combat.
Of course, if you only look at the market value revenue, Loma is actually not outstanding. In recent years, in the world's top 500 rankings, Loma has long been hovering around the top 100. But we need to know that Loma is a defense supplier, playing technology and industry. It has a huge talent reserve and profound technical background, and has the research and development and production capacity of various advanced weapons and equipment such as aircraft, warships, missiles, and satellites. These things can sometimes not be simply measured with money.
As the slogan of Loma Company said, this military enterprise carries the glory and dream of American air and space power, and represents the heritage and strength of the world's number one military power. In a sense, he is much more important than the ordinary Fortune 500.