Defense contractors are scrambling for legal counsel after President Donald Trump signed an executive order linking share buybacks, dividends, and executive pay to weapons delivery timelines—putting RTX under the spotlight ahead of tomorrow’s session. The order gives the Secretary of War 30 days to identify contractors lagging on schedules and demands board-approved plans to fix delays. Franklin Turner, an attorney at McCarter & English, said the real kicker is the threat of payment freezes and contract cancellations. Big players like RTX, Lockheed Martin, and Northrop Grumman have dished out roughly $8 billion in dividends and repurchased about $10 billion in shares over the past year, per Morgan Stanley data. Analyst Kristine Liwag described the policy as a mix of “carrots and sticks,” especially with Trump touting a $1.5 trillion defense budget request for fiscal 2027.
