Lockheed Martin (NYSE: LMT) is working to accelerate up to $500M in supplier payments as part of the company’s efforts to help government and industry partners in COVID-19 recovery initiatives.
Lockheed said Friday it aims to “promote a healthy defense industrial base” and expedited payments of $300M to $500M every week especially to small business and at-risk companies over the past month.
According to the company, more than 7.9K suppliers including 4.8K small businesses across the U.S. and its territories secured accelerated payments from Lockheed to date.
James Taiclet, president and CEO of Lockheed, previously said the company has accelerated progress payments worth over $1.1B to its suppliers as of June.
In addition to its supplier support, Lockheed also pledged $3.5M to add to its donations for mental health assistance to veterans and service members.
Lockheed’s donations also cover support for various remote learning, vocational and community programs.
The additional amount builds on the $18M that Lockheed earmarked for ongoing charity efforts across the U.S. as well as the manufacture of personal protective equipment.
Other milestones that Lockheed cited include meeting its 2020 goal of 12K new hires across the country.
