The 2019 Fortune 500 has 13 aerospace and defense companies on it, with Boeing, United Technologies, and Lockheed Martin leading the charge. Orbital ATK, Engility Holdings, and Aerojet Rocketdyne Holdings fell off the list, while Maxar Technologies made its first appearance.
A total of 23 aerospace and defense firms are on the Fortune 1000, which is 2 less than last year. Of those 23 firms, 6 gained in rank, 7 dropped in rank, 17 posted job growth, 6 are on the most admired list of companies and 3 firms have female CEOs.
These are the 23 aerospace and defense firms on the 2019 Fortune 500 (and Fortune 1000):
These 6 companies gained in rank:
And these 7 dropped in rank:
Job growth was reported at 17 of the companies:
These 6 firms are on Fortune's most admired list:
Here's a video introducing this year's list:
Three of the companies have female CEOs:
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Lockheed Martin |
General Dynamics |
Northrup Grumman |
As aerospace and defense firms diversify into commercial markets, their marketing is becoming more important.
Since a defense contractor’s website is one of its most important marketing assets, I included two indicators of a site’s authority as measured by Alexa.com:
- Alexa Traffic Rank – an estimate of how popular your site is relative to all other sites. The Alexa Rank answers the question: Compared to all other sites, how is my site doing? Note that since rank is a relative measure, a site’s rank is not only dependent on that site’s traffic, but also on changes to traffic on other sites.
- Sites Linking In – inbound links help search engines clearly define your niche and also increase the trust and quality of your site. Authoritative inbound links (from sites that are performing well) give a site credibility. A higher number of inbound links are generally obtained by producing engaging, original content.
For more on improving a site’s Alexa rank, check out “A Guide to Improving Your Alexa Rank.”
One of the best things a defense contractor can do to improve their marketing effectiveness is to have an educational blog with content that is useful to the people they need to reach to make a sale (i.e. not your company announcements). Here is a recent article about the benefits of blogging for defense contractors:
Why Defense Contractors Can’t Afford Not to Have a Blog
Social media is a marketing tactic that is getting increased adoption and usage by aerospace and defense companies. Social media is enabling these firms to increase awareness amongst key audiences, including customers, partners and potential employees. But as the study referenced in “15 Reasons Why More Aerospace & Defense CEOs are “Liking” Social Media,” it is just plain good for business.
Given the growing importance of Twitter to aerospace and defense companies, I have included a link to each company’s Twitter account if I was able to locate one. I have also set up a list on Twitter of the defense contractors on the Fortune 500 which can be seen by clicking here or the graphic above.
Similarly, given the many benefits of having a LinkedIn company page, I have included links to each company’s LinkedIn company page.
Now onto the good stuff. The companies listed below are based on The Fortune 500's "Aerospace & Defense" industry search filter. Included are links to each company's website and Fortune 500 revenue data (in millions).
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| 28. Boeing $101,127 |   |
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Links: 6,723; Traffic Rank: 13,002 |
| 46. United Technologies $66,501 |  |
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Links: 1,799; Traffic Rank: 52,077 |
| 60. Lockheed Martin $53,762 | |
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Links: 3,725; Traffic Rank: 45,283 |
| 92. General Dynamics $36,193 | |
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Links: 208; Traffic Rank: 213,644 |
| 108. Northrop Grumman $30,095 | |
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Links: 2,286; Traffic Rank: 51,580 |
| 114. Raytheon $27,058 | |
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Links: 2,153; Traffic Rank: 45,073 |
| 227. Arconic $14,014 | |
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Links: 234; Traffic Rank: 168,468 |
| 229. Textron $13,972 |
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Links: 872; Traffic Rank: 65,581 |
| 290. L-3 Technologies $10,841 | |
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Links: 153; Traffic Rank: 119,745 |
| 350. Rockwell Collins $8,665 | |
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Links: 665; Traffic Rank: 44,162 |
| 371. Huntington Ingalls Industries $8,176 | |
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Links: 301; Traffic Rank: 283,372 |
| 420. Spirit AeroSystems Holdings $7,222 |  |
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Links: 157; Traffic Rank: 487,038 |
| 474. Harris $6,182 | |
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Links: 1,165; Traffic Rank: 73,720 |
| 650. TransDigm Group $3,822.9 | |
Links: 39; Traffic Rank: 1,002,036 | ||
| 728. Triumph Group $3,199 | |
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Links: 159; Traffic Rank: 718,906 |
| 782. Teledyne Technologies $2,901.8 | |
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Links: 279; Traffic Rank: 284,798 | |
| 818. Moog $2,709.5 | |
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Links: 574; Traffic Rank: 112,739 |
| 876. Curtiss-Wright $2,411.8 | |
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Links: 187; Traffic Rank: 877,863 | |
| 898. Woodward $2,325.9 | |
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Links: 372; Traffic Rank: 328,620 |
| 932. Hexcel $2,189.1 | |
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Links: 229; Traffic Rank: 576,214 |
| 944. Delta Tucker Holdings $2,148.3 | |
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Links: 217; Traffic Rank: 166,689 | |
| 947. Maxar Technologies $2,141 | |
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Links: 59; Traffic Rank: 416,881 | |
| 975. Esterline Technologies $2,034.8 | |
Links: 323; Traffic Rank: 428,639 |
Below, you can scroll through the latest real-time Tweets from these aerospace and defense companies on the Fortune 500.
