Lockheed Martin is directly involved in the war crimes and crimes against humanity being committed by Israel in the occupied Palestinian territories. Its supply of weapons – including the transfer of 50 F-16I fighters as part of the Peace Marble V program amounting to $1.45 billion in 2004; its contract for F-35 fighter parts worth $2.5 billion in 2014; and its continued provision of arms and weapons since the most recent escalation of conflict on October 7th 2023 (as shown in Pax’s 2024 “The companies arming Israel and their Financiers” report) – directly tie the company to the war crimes committed against the Palestinian people.

Since October 7th, 2023, Israel’s military campaign in Gaza has killed over 50,000 people, one third of whom were children (as of March 2025). Conflict has also intensified in the West Bank, killing over 870 since October 2023. The January 2024 ruling by the ICJ concluded there was a risk of genocide in Gaza, and UN experts have since called for states, companies, and related financial institutions to end arms sales and transfers to Israel. The withholding of medical supplies and humanitarian aid, and the targeting of healthcare infrastructure and healthcare personnel have contributed to famine, unsanitary living conditions, and a critical healthcare crisis. The impact on women is especially acute, as sexual and reproductive health services have been widely destroyed, leaving women without basic access to care including c-sections without anesthesia.

Israel has also expanded its attacks to Syria and Lebanon, with 71 civilian deaths in Lebanon since the ceasefire in January 2025, including air strikes to Beirut in March 2025.

Lockheed Martin weapons in the ongoing war

According to Pax (2024), Israel ordered 50 F-35 aircraft from Lockheed Martin between 2010 and 2017, of which 39 were delivered by 2022, as well as 12 CH-53K transport helicopters. Lockheed Martin and RTX also supplied over 700 paveway guided bombs in 2019. 

The Israeli air force uses three main types of fixed-wing aircraft, the F-15, F-16, and F-35. The F-16 and F-35 are the main aircraft used as bombers, and both are manufactured by Lockheed Martin. F-35s are mainly used for patrols and have also bombed “displaced families, the elderly, the sick, and children [and] so-called ‘safe zones’”, according to Al-Haq. The 900 kg bombs they can house can obliterate a 365 m radius, causing indiscriminate and disproportionate casualties. The UK government has acknowledged the clear risk of violation of international human rights law from the supply of F-35s, but has continued to secretly send them through the UK branch, Lockheed Martin UK Integrated Systems, including six shipments from November 2023 to August 2024.

Lockheed Martin also produces F-16 fighter jets, the IAF’s main strike aircraft. These fighter jets, of which the Israeli Air Force operate a fleet of 362, have been termed “the workhorse of the Gaza bombing campaign,” and by November 2023, were predominantly responsible for the 12,000 targets struck and deaths of 10,000 Gazans. These jets, produced by Lockheed Martin, are modified to increase payload by Elbit Systems, Israel’s largest weapons manufacturer, and have been used to drop MK80 bombs manufactured by General Dynamics.

Additionally, Lockheed Martin is responsible for the MTADS sensor and targeting fire-control system on the Boeing-produced AH-64 Apache helicopters, as well as the 2,000 Hellfire Laser Guided missiles they carry, which have been described as the “primary tool for taking lives and destroying infrastructure” in Gaza.

Complicity in the ongoing occupation

The protracted conflict is the latest intensification in the ongoing Israeli settler colonialism of the Palestinian territories, whose occupation has constituted repeated human rights violations and abuse of the Palestinian people. Lockheed Martin’s support through its Israel branch has included the supply of land and air weaponry: F-35 Lightning II, C-130J Super Hercules, Gen 3, TADS/PNVS, GMLRS: Precision Rocket Artillery, and Multiple Launch Rocket System (M270). The latter has also been used in the war against Gaza.

No response

The Business and Human Rights Resource Centre invited Lockheed Martin to respond to allegations of the “plausible risk of genocide” in Gaza on April 4th 2024, but has received no response. Lockheed Martin has also not responded regarding the UN expert's call for stopping arms transfer to Israel.