NEW YORK, January 1, 2026, 13:29 ET — Market closed
- Boeing won a $2.7 billion Apache helicopter support contract, the Pentagon said.
- Lockheed landed a Taiwan-related foreign military sales award with a $328.5 million ceiling, the Pentagon said.
- Aerospace and defense ETFs ended the last session of 2025 lower, tracking a broader market dip.
The Pentagon’s latest contract awards for Boeing and Lockheed Martin kept U.S. space and defense stocks in focus into the new year, even as Wall Street sat out Thursday’s New Year’s Day holiday.
The updates matter now because the first trading session of 2026 begins on Friday, and late-year contract announcements can shape near-term sentiment around backlog and government demand — a key driver for the sector’s biggest companies.
Lockheed’s Taiwan-related award also landed against a backdrop of heightened cross-strait tensions after China staged major military drills around the island earlier this week, Reuters reported.
In the final session of 2025, the iShares U.S. Aerospace & Defense ETF fell 0.8%. Boeing was last down 0.6% and Lockheed was last down 0.9%, while peers Northrop Grumman and RTX also edged lower.
The sector largely tracked a broader market pullback, with the SPDR S&P 500 ETF down 0.7% and the Invesco QQQ Trust down 0.8%.
Boeing’s award covers post-production support services for Apache helicopters, the Pentagon said. The announcement follows a separate $4.7 billion Army award a month earlier for new Apache AH-64E helicopters and related equipment, Reuters reported.
Lockheed’s award was structured as a foreign military sale — U.S. government-managed arms sales to allies — with a ceiling value of $328.5 million. The Pentagon said the contract covers 55 Legion infrared search-and-track sensor pods and related equipment for Taiwan, with work expected to run through June 2031.
Investors typically treat such awards as incremental rather than transformative, but the steady cadence reinforces expectations that demand for sensors, sustainment and mission systems will remain firm as governments prioritize readiness and modernization.
Deal activity also added a second catalyst for the group. TransDigm said it would buy Stellant Systems for about $960 million in cash, including tax benefits, expanding its portfolio of electronic components used in defense, space and satellite applications.
“We believe the acquisition is likely to be margin dilutive in the near-term,” RBC Capital Markets analyst Ken Herbert wrote, while calling the deal positive for TransDigm’s long-term value creation. Reuters
For the broader space-and-defense complex — including primes such as Lockheed, Boeing, Northrop and RTX — traders are balancing contract flow against questions that tend to dominate earnings season: cost control, program execution and cash generation.
Before Friday’s reopening, investors will also be watching U.S. data that can move interest-rate expectations and equity risk appetite. The Labor Department’s employment report for December 2025 is scheduled for January 9, followed by the December CPI report on January 13, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics calendar.
Company-specific catalysts are lined up later this month. Northrop Grumman said it plans to report fourth-quarter and full-year 2025 results on January 27, before the market opens, alongside a webcast.
Technically, traders will be watching whether ITA holds near Wednesday’s low around $214.50 and whether Boeing and Lockheed can push back toward their recent highs after a softer finish to 2025.
