BaeNorGrumLockMart
BaeNorGrumLockMart is the end result of decades of consolidation in the American defense industry, though it also continues to build civilian items. It is made up primarily of
- Boeing (BAE)
- Northrup-Grumman (NorGrum)
- Lockheed-Martin (LockMart)
Other companies are also included in the mix, but these are the "big five" and short of calling the company "We The People", it was deemed simpler to create a name that could actually be pronounced and stood for the whole shebang. "Baenorgrumlockmart" actually trips rather easily off the tongue, at least in the author's opinion.
In the Timelines universe, BaeNorGrumLockMart exists from at least the early 2020's, and probably results mostly from President Donald Trump's quest to Make American Great Again. While it sounds like a monopoly with a solid lock on big, no-bid defense appropriations, what really happens is the entire defense industry benefits from economies of scale and consolidated management, making prices go down rather than up and up and up. In effect, the consolidated BaeNorGrumLockMart becomes an arm of the Pentagon, which has itself been forced through the realities of the budget to become lean, mean, and fiscally-competent in order to fulfill its war-fighting role, as well as to put dozens of Space Force starships into commission in a very short period of time.
Notably, SpaceX is not part of the consolidated group, and continues to run its own programs and do its own thing.