A handful of companies collect the lion's share of the Pentagon's contract dollars. Here is who the biggest U.S. defense contractors are in 2026, ranked by federal prime contract awards — and how you can track exactly what each one is paid, straight from the official spending record.
The figures below come from USAspending.gov prime contract awards since October 2023. For each company's live, itemized totals — by agency and by individual award — see our top federal contractors index.
The biggest defense contractors, by federal contract dollars
- Lockheed Martin — the largest by a wide margin, with more than $150 billion in prime contracts. Maker of the F-35 fighter, missiles, and space systems.
- Boeing — more than $68 billion across its defense, space, and tanker programs (alongside its commercial aviation business).
- RTX (Raytheon) — more than $51 billion; Patriot and Tomahawk missiles, radars, and Pratt & Whitney engines.
- Northrop Grumman — more than $39 billion; the B-21 stealth bomber, the Sentinel ICBM, and space systems.
- General Dynamics — more than $31 billion; nuclear submarines, combat vehicles, and federal IT through GDIT.
- Leidos, Huntington Ingalls, and L3Harris round out the next tier — each with tens of billions in defense and government-services work.
Rankings shift as new awards are recorded, so the live contractors index is the authoritative, up-to-date version of this list.
What these numbers count (and what they don't)
These are prime contract obligations — money the government has legally committed to a company as the lead contractor. They do not include subcontracts (a slice of Lockheed's dollars flows to suppliers), grants, or classified spending that isn't itemized publicly. "Obligated" measures spending, not waste: a big number means a big buyer relationship, not wrongdoing.
Defense contractors, Congress, and the money trail
Contracts are one half of the picture. The same industry also funds congressional campaigns. See which members of Congress are funded by Defense & Aerospace employers, how the federal budget breaks down by agency, and — where a member who takes defense money also votes on defense policy — our roll-call votes show the juxtaposition. A contribution is not proof of influence, but the public record lets you judge.
Track any contractor yourself
Our contractors index lets you search every company we track, see which agencies pay it, and open the largest individual awards on USAspending.gov. Start with Lockheed Martin — the single biggest recipient — and follow the dollars from there.