Lockheed Martin (Audio)

Today we bring you two absolutely incredible stories. The first is Lockheed’s legendary Skunk Works division — the elite team of aviation geniuses who produced some of the greatest airplanes in history: the U-2, the Stealth Fighter, and the incomparable SR-71 Blackbird. The second story is arguably even more important, but not widely known! It's the secret and true origins of Silicon Valley — and Lockheed’s primary role in it. We take you from WWII to the Cold War, all the way to today to unpack and analyze the industry dynamics of defense contractors in the modern era. Tune in and prepare to be blown away by what you’ll learn about the history of our industry!

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Links:

Ben Rich’s Skunk Works

Kelly’s 14 Rules of Skunk Works

LMSC’s “Seven Tenets”

Steve Blank’s Secret History of Silicon Valley

Episode sources:

Carve Outs:

Nier: Automata

The Blackbird speed check story

EGO Lawn Tools (just in time for Fathers’ Day!)

Note: Acquired hosts and guests may hold assets discussed in this episode. This podcast is not investment advice, and is intended for informational and entertainment purposes only. You should do your own research and make your own independent decisions when considering any financial transactions.

[bobthemagicmoose]

I interviewed at Lockheed and big tech. My offer at big tech was 2-3x Lockheed, at a much better location, and with much better atmosphere. Based on my interviews of people there (including one at Skunkworks), it's 100% bureaucracy. Lockheed is a nationalized company by all measures.

[michaelmdlea]

Gentlemen, I love the episode. One minor correction, the U2 is still in use. It has not been decommissioned as a program yet.

[drewcunningham]

Came across this segment randomly when I wasn't paying attention to youtube, and became completely captivated. I can tell that you're both good writers and that you know a lot of cool stuff just by listening to this episode. Subscribed and can't wait to listen to more of your stuff.

[MikeAlcazaren]

Man, this episode was awesome. Aircraft like the SR-71 and F-117 inspired me to pursue engineering and it still wows me today (and makes me feel like I'll never be a 'real engineer') that these aircraft were designed primarily on pen and paper. You guys struck a great balance of being wowed by the technology while still talking about the struggle of mentally processing both the importance and the far-reaching impacts of the military industrial complex. I worked in defense for ~2.5 years and felt first hand what it feels like to be part of the "engineering reserve corps" and being frustrated with the velocity of the industry. I've spent time working at Amazon, and it's interesting to see the parallels between the 14 Rules & 7 Tenets and Amazon's 16 Leadership principles. Knowing that Bezos' dad might have had exposure to those rules and tenets is an interesting connection that I never made before. Anyways - kudos on the awesome pod!

[nickgarcia]

In those corona test pictures i can legitimately see my house. My corner of Arizona had some of calibration targets for the camera.

[deantait]

Feels kinda strange to hear the era I grew up in, told to me by young folks.
I grew up in the 50’s about 15 minutes from Lockheed and the Skunk Works … most of the Aviation world was in So Cal and aerospace industry was ‘The Valley’.

[Harmony]

Brother worked for Lockheed Martin, then I got to work for them, and i love working for Lockheed Martin. The reason why is that I want to be that 1% responsible for every lethal machines we have created against our enemy. Im a programmer and got to go on a business trip to deal with classified information.

[croacc]

Dude Imagine working for Lockheed on these Top Secret projects. Fricking dream job for engineers and scientists.

[paulbrouyere]

I thought I knew something of aviation, then I thought I knew something about insulating houses, then I thought… you’re having a terrific good podcast about how to build a small idea into a worldwide accepted concept. What a revelation to hear you two speak about history of aviation since the development of the jet engine.

[jillionairess]

I’m watching this while listening to the jets from Miramar fly overhead. I always cringe that they’ll crash into my house like in 2007 when a house in my neighborhood was obliterated by one.

[Rmanaseri]

U-2s are still flying. Set to sundown in FY 2026.

[stephanepierrot]

Bell's P-59 Airacobra was the first jet fighter in service. It equipped the 412th Fighter Group.😉

[hogey]

Great episode! A serious comment however. Spoiler Alert - this is about the Maverick movie which is awesome. If you haven't seen it yet, seriously don't read this now. The story starting with the project being shut down due to failing to meet the targets is exactly the opposite of reality. LM won the JSF competition with the F35 but then continuously failed to meet the needed speed, weight, payload targets. Instead of being shut down, as in the movie, they successfully got the targets reduced, repeatedly. This is a major part of the reason everyone from the Joint Chiefs to the leaders of other countries have have repeatedly talked about cancelling the whole thing. It's an example of really smart dishonest messaging designed to create a false but firm impression that things are being done the hard but fair way.

[tomtraveler]

I think you should also point out in addition to their profits how highly paid many of their employees are. That’s where what would be profits actually go.

[kurtdorr]

You guys missed the greatest story of all, Alfred Loomis!!!!

[jeffjenks]

It was Nixon, not Johnson, I remember, for the S/R R/S gaff.

[antonvanaarde]

Can u fight bomber planes vs bomber planes

[streamust]

They keep saying "Lockheed has only one customer: the United States DoD". Yet they acknowledge the F-35 is procured by many different countries all over the world.
😂

[PeckerwoodIndustries]

Tesla/Spacex/Neurralink is the new skunkworks.

[leeliddle]

You can't add a series of pictures and short videos to make your semi-repetitive dialog a little more interesting?