Northrop Grumman Corporation (NOC)’s Global Hawk Takes On Lockheed Martin Corporation (LMT)’s U-2: Who Will Win?

Among others, one major critique by the Air Force is that the GH can’t fly in bad weather and it doesn’t reach an altitude high enough to fly above it. But supporters of the GH say this is ridiculous as the Air Force’s restrictions of being able to fly 10,000 feet above thunderstorms is excessive. Additionally, for $7 million, Northrop Grumman Corporation (NYSE:NOC) offered to install “weather-diversion” cameras in the Guam-based GH. That way, the GH cold reroute around clouds just like a piloted plane.

What to watch for
There’s a lot involved with this battle, and Congress — which controls the Air Force’s funding — has said the Air Force is being shortsighted and needs to get on board with the GH, because at least for now, they’re here to stay. Still, the Air Force isn’t taking that as the final answer and is pushing for the U-2. As of now, Congress has approved funding for the GHs and has even put in stipulations that make it so the Air Force can’t retire them. But this fight is far from over. And as this could negatively impact Northrop Grumman (NYSE:NOC), investors would do well to closely monitor this situation.

The article Northrop’s Global Hawk Takes On Lockheed’s U-2: Who Will Win? originally appeared on Fool.com and is written by Katie Spence.

Fool contributor Katie Spence owns shares of Northrop Grumman. Follow her on Twitter @TMFKSpence. The Motley Fool owns shares of Lockheed Martin Corporation (NYSE:LMT) and Northrop Grumman.

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