Low-rate production for at least one classified program is underway at the Lockheed Martin Skunk Works, continuing an 80-year-old tradition of secret, small-batch manufacturing of exotic aeronautics technology. 

By the standards of classified industrial activity, several clues of a covert production revival on the Skunk Works campus in Palmdale, California, have been on public display for nearly two years. First, the Skunk Works in August 2021 opened Building 648, the first new factory erected on the Palmdale site in decades. Featuring a modular layout, the 440-ft.-long, 290-ft.-wide building is capable of supporting multiple classified programs simultaneously. 

• Headcount today rivals the SR-71 era
• Lockheed is also eyeing future hypersonic and mobility work

The aeronautics division, meanwhile, has since reported about $270 million in losses on a classified fixed-price incentive-fee contract for a project described in financial filings as a “highly complex design and system integration” challenge, with another $780 million held in reserve at the end of last year as a hedge against future losses. 

The final clue is the shocking growth of the headcount in Palmdale. Since 2018, the advanced development programs unit of Lockheed’s aeronautics division has hired about 2,300 employees, representing a roughly 75% growth spurt in five years. With another 230 job openings in Palmdale still being advertised as of Aug. 29, the Skunk Works headcount could rise to more than 5,500 workers, rivaling the organization’s workforce in 1963, when the SR-71 entered production.

In one of his first interviews since taking over the Skunk Works in March 2022, General Manager John Clark tells Aviation Week that the legendary Skunk Works—the once-secret serial manufacturing home of the P-80, U-2, SR-71, F-117 and RQ-170—has relaunched small-batch production of . . . something.

“I think it’s fair to say that there is low-rate production going on in the Skunk Works,” Clark says. “We’ve got our hands in a myriad of activities, so I feel comfortable saying that because you won’t be able to factor in specifically what it might be to then create security problems for me. But yes, there are low-rate production activities going on in Palmdale.”

Two months after celebrating the 80th anniversary of the unit’s founding during World War II, Clark says he has felt compelled to invoke the organization’s historic role to justify its current buildup. Alongside the Skunk Works’ role as a rapid-prototyping arm of the aeronautics division, the unit founded by Clarence “Kelly” Johnson has functioned as a product manufacturing center. For programs such as the SR-71 and F-117, the Skunk Works fully managed series production. In other cases, such as for the AGM-158 Joint Air-to-Surface Standoff Missile, the organization managed low-rate production, then handed over the program to another corporate division. 

“I’ve really tried to reinforce that mindset that we do more than just a one-off X-plane,” Clark says. “It has given me a lot more freedom with the aeronautics executive leadership team to let me grow Skunk Works the way that it historically would have been grown.”

Amid the return of great power competition, the possibilities for the nature of the Skunk Works’ production activity are vast, with high-speed missiles, intelligence-gathering aircraft, artificial-intelligence-enabled uncrewed aircraft systems and next-generation fighters possibly on secret drawing boards. 

The Air Force and Navy have named Lockheed as one of the competitors for contracts to develop the crewed fighters at the center of a family of Next-Generation Air Dominance (NGAD) aircraft. If both services follow tradition, a series of proof-of-concept aircraft and experimental prototypes will be built and flown to inform the final requirements and the government’s evaluation of each contractor’s technical maturity. But the Air Force only released a final request for proposals for the NGAD fighter in May, with a contract award for engineering and manufacturing development likely in 2024. That timeline suggests that the start of low-rate production could still be several years away, with the Navy’s NGAD program trailing by another 2-3 years. 

Citing strict guidance on public disclosure by the Air Force and Navy, Clark says he cannot comment on Lockheed’s ongoing efforts to win NGAD contracts.

New security rules also prohibit Clark from elaborating on topics that were fair game a year ago, including the Speedracer advanced aerial decoy program and Project Carrera, a planned experiment to network F-35As and Speedracer decoys together in flight. At the time, the Skunk Works touted the Speedracer as an autonomous adjunct for current and future combat aircraft. In addition to functioning as a decoy, jammer, sensor or cruise missile, depending on mission needs, the low-cost vehicle would be cheap enough to be expendable yet valuable enough to be recovered after each mission, if possible. 

“It was a great idea that we can no longer talk about . . . just because of customer guidance,” Clark says. 

So far, the Skunk Works’ attempts to win a production program for a hypersonic weapon have been unsuccessful. 

The organization planned to build the first production units of the AGM-183A Air-Launched Rapid Response Weapon on behalf of Lockheed’s Missiles and Fire Control division. Although the program has completed at least one successful test of the all-up round, including the hypersonic glide vehicle and booster, the Air Force has withdrawn funding for production. In another blow, the service rejected Lockheed’s bid for the Hypersonic Attack Cruise Missile contract last year, awarding the contract to the Raytheon/Northrop Grumman team instead. 

In March, the Navy selected Raytheon and Lockheed to compete for the Hypersonic Air-Launched Offensive Anti-Surface Weapon (HALO). To adapt such a cruise missile to operate from a carrier, Navy officials have said they are open to high-speed missiles above Mach 4, rather than a weapon that meets the traditional definition of hypersonic speed above Mach 5. Lockheed, however, expects that the highest possible speed will be necessary to meet the Navy’s requirements.

“From our evaluation of the [operational analysis], speed matters,” Clark says. “The faster you can get, the better off you’re going to be from having the lethality and survivability that you’re going to need in the endgame.”

The future of mobility aircraft is another topic the Skunk Works is exploring. Lockheed famously launched the C-130 program in 1952 over founder Johnson’s objections. Nearly 70 years later, the Skunk Works is considering options for a new tactical airlifter for the 2030s.

“It’s best to put yourself out of business because if you don’t, somebody else will,” Clark says. “There are other concepts in the mobility space we’re evaluating that fall into that category of replacing a C-130, and maybe being just a little bit smaller—more C-27J-ish, so somewhere in that class of vehicle that allows you to go fulfill that tactical, contested part of the environment.”