Chapter 5: The North American Manufacturing Core

Manufacturing is found throughout the more populated regions of North America, but its distribution is not even. Excluding Northern New England, the northeastern United States and southern Ontario together comprise the continent's single most important manufacturing region. According to figure 5.1, Washington D.C. lies just south of the true manufacturing core and is inside the transitional area that stretches to the south eastern border of Virginia.

While D.C. is not in the Manufacturing Core, Washington is does have certain major industries in the city.

1. Lockheed Martin
Lockheed Martin employs over 22, 000 people in the D.C. area. Lockheed Martin is a U.S. global aerospace, defense, security, and advanced technology company with worldwide interests. It was formed in 1995 by the merger of Lockheed Corporation with Martin Marietta in March 1995. It is the world's largest defense contractor. Due to the companies' large amount of government contracts, the D.C. office is an integral part of the cooperation's operations.

The Lockheed Martin F/A-22 "Raptor"

2. Northrop Grumman

Northrup Grumman employs over 20, 000 people in the Washington D.C. area, the second largest employer in the district. Northrop Grumman is also an American aerospace and defense technology company. As of 2010 it was the fourth-largest defense contractor in the world and the largest builder of naval vessels.

The Northrop Grumman X-47