L3Harris Technologies, Inc. (LHX): History, Ownership, Mission, How It Works & Makes Money

When you look at the defense sector, how does L3Harris Technologies, Inc. (LHX) manage to be a leading global provider of mission-critical solutions while navigating a geopolitical landscape defined by urgency and speed? This company is defintely a powerhouse, recently reporting a trailing twelve-month net income of $1.759 billion and raising its FY2025 free cash flow guidance to $2.65 billion, fueled by a massive $36.3 billion backlog that signals sustained growth in space and resilient communications. The real question for investors and strategists is how L3Harris Technologies converts this record pipeline into long-term shareholder value, especially after capturing major opportunities like the $2.2 billion Korea Airborne Early Warning & Control award just last quarter. You need to understand the mechanics behind those numbers-the specific history, ownership structure, and revenue streams-to truly grasp why their stock has outperformed the S&P 500 by over 23 percentage points year-to-date.

L3Harris Technologies, Inc. (LHX) History

You need to understand that L3Harris Technologies, Inc. isn't a startup; it's a defense and aerospace titan built from a massive merger. The current company is the result of combining two long-standing, powerful entities: Harris Corporation and L3 Technologies. This history of consolidation is key to its current market position.

Given Company's Founding Timeline

The L3Harris story is really a tale of two companies-one from the Industrial Revolution, one from the post-Cold War defense reshuffling-that came together to create a new, agile prime contractor.

Year established

The company, L3Harris Technologies, Inc., was officially established on June 29, 2019, following the all-stock merger of equals between Harris Corporation and L3 Technologies. However, its roots stretch back to 1895 with the founding of the Harris Automatic Press Company.

Original location

The headquarters for the newly formed L3Harris Technologies was established in Melbourne, Florida, which was the long-time headquarters of Harris Corporation.

Founding team members

The new company's initial leadership was structured to reflect the merger of equals, bringing together the top executives from both predecessor firms:

• William M. Brown (former Harris CEO) served as Chairman and CEO.
• Christopher E. Kubasik (former L3 CEO) served as Vice Chairman, President, and COO.

Initial capital/funding

The formation of L3Harris was an all-stock merger of equals, valued at approximately $16.1 billion when the agreement was announced in October 2018. Harris shareholders owned about 54% and L3 shareholders owned about 46% of the combined company. That's a powerful starting balance sheet for a new entity.

Given Company's Evolution Milestones

The real story here is the consistent, decades-long strategy of growth through acquisition, culminating in the 2019 merger and the strategic portfolio shaping that continues into 2025.

Given Company's Transformative Moments

The two most transformative moments for L3Harris are the 2019 merger and the 2023 acquisition, plus the internal efficiency drive that's paying off big in 2025.

The 2019 merger was a strategic move to create a 'Trusted Disruptor' in the defense industry, offering a true alternative to the traditional, larger primes. This was about market positioning, not just scale.

• The $4.7 billion all-cash acquisition of Aerojet Rocketdyne, completed in 2023, was a game-changer. It immediately gave L3Harris a dominant position in missile and space propulsion, a high-growth area.
• The company's internal transformation, the LHX NeXt initiative, has been defintely effective. It drove $800 million in cost savings in 2024 and the company raised its total savings goal to $1.2 billion by the end of 2025, a year ahead of schedule. That kind of operational efficiency directly hits your bottom line, boosting margins.
• By the third quarter of 2025, the company reported a non-GAAP diluted Earnings Per Share (EPS) of $2.70, up 10% year-over-year, showing that the post-merger integration and strategic acquisitions are translating into profitable growth.

If you want to dig deeper into who is betting on this strategy, check out Exploring L3Harris Technologies, Inc. (LHX) Investor Profile: Who's Buying and Why?

L3Harris Technologies, Inc. (LHX) Ownership Structure

L3Harris Technologies, Inc. (LHX) is a publicly traded company, listed on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE), which means its ownership is widely distributed among institutional investors, company insiders, and the general public. This structure is heavily weighted toward large financial institutions, which collectively control the vast majority of the company's shares and therefore its governance. Breaking Down L3Harris Technologies, Inc. (LHX) Financial Health: Key Insights for Investors

L3Harris Technologies, Inc.'s Current Status

L3Harris Technologies is a public company (PUB), trading under the ticker LHX on the NYSE. This status subjects the company to rigorous reporting and transparency requirements from the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), ensuring a high degree of public scrutiny over its financial health and operations. It's a classic defense contractor setup: highly institutionalized ownership with a clear focus on long-term government contracts and performance.

As of November 2025, the company has provided a strong outlook, with its Fiscal Year (FY) 2025 guidance for Earnings Per Share (EPS) set between $10.50 and $10.70. The analyst consensus is even higher, anticipating an EPS of around $11.12 for the full year. That's a defintely solid number.

L3Harris Technologies, Inc.'s Ownership Breakdown

The ownership structure is dominated by institutional players, which is typical for a large-cap aerospace and defense firm. This concentration of ownership means that the investment decisions of a few major firms-like BlackRock, Inc. and The Vanguard Group, Inc.-can significantly impact the stock price and strategic direction.

L3Harris Technologies, Inc.'s Leadership

The company is steered by a seasoned executive team with deep roots in the aerospace and defense (A&D) industry, focusing on executing large government programs and integrating recent acquisitions. The core leadership is responsible for managing the company's four segments: Space & Airborne Systems, Integrated Mission Systems, Communication Systems, and the recently acquired Aerojet Rocketdyne.

Here's the quick math on governance: the board and management team, while only holding a small fraction of the shares, are the ones making the day-to-day capital allocation decisions, so their background matters immensely.

• Christopher Kubasik: Chair and Chief Executive Officer (CEO). He holds the dual role, which gives him significant control over both strategy and board agenda.
• Kenneth Bedingfield: Senior Vice President, Chief Financial Officer (CFO), and President of Aerojet Rocketdyne. This dual role is a clear signal that the integration and financial performance of the Aerojet Rocketdyne acquisition are a top priority for 2025.
• Samir Mehta: President of Communication Systems, also leading Strategic Collaboration Agreements. His focus is on leveraging partnerships to deploy advanced capabilities to the U.S. and allied nations.
• Heidi Wood: Vice President and Chief Transformation Officer. She oversees the company's internal transformation initiative, LHX NeXt, which is focused on driving cost savings and enterprise-wide efficiency.
• Jon Rambeau: President of Integrated Mission Systems.
• Edward "Ed" Zoiss: President of Space & Airborne Systems.

The leadership team's average tenure is around 2.2 years, which reflects the post-merger integration and the recent addition of the Aerojet Rocketdyne unit, but the CEO, Mr. Kubasik, has over 30 years in the A&D space, providing stability.

L3Harris Technologies, Inc. (LHX) Mission and Values

L3Harris Technologies, Inc.'s core purpose centers on being the 'Trusted Disruptor' in the defense industry, driving relentless innovation to secure national interests across all operational domains. This mission is grounded in three non-negotiable values: Integrity, Excellence, and Respect, which shape the company's culture and long-term strategic decisions.

Given Company's Core Purpose

The company's cultural DNA is built on solving the most challenging, mission-critical problems for government and defense customers with speed and determination. This goes beyond simply selling hardware; it's about delivering end-to-end technology solutions that connect space, air, land, sea, and cyber domains. It's a high-stakes business, so trust is the key commodity.

Here's the quick math on their recent performance: for the third quarter of 2025, the company reported revenue of $5.7 billion, up 7% year-over-year, and Non-GAAP diluted EPS of $2.70, a 10% increase. Strong performance like this defintely shows their mission focus is translating into tangible results.

Official mission statement

L3Harris Technologies' mission statement is direct and action-oriented, reflecting its role as a key player in the constantly evolving defense landscape.

• As the Trusted Disruptor, we innovate relentlessly and deliver capability with the speed, passion and determination that our customers demand in executing their most challenging missions.

This statement emphasizes being both a reliable partner (Trusted) and a source of rapid, cutting-edge technology (Disruptor). The focus is on speed and determination, which are critical in a world where threats evolve quickly.

Vision statement

While L3Harris does not publish a single, formal 'Vision Statement,' its strategic objectives and public purpose clearly map out its long-term aspiration-to be the essential technology partner for global security.

• Anticipate and rapidly respond to challenges with agile technology, creating a safer and more secure future.
• Establish the company as the defense industry's primary Trusted Disruptor, offering alternatives to traditional prime contractors.
• Shape the portfolio to support the future of warfare by having capabilities in all domains: space, air, maritime, land, and cyber.

The vision is to be the company that is always a step ahead, mitigating risk with multi-domain, layered solutions. You can see how this plays out in their investment narrative, which projects $24.9 billion in revenue by 2028.

Given Company slogan/tagline

The company has successfully branded its strategic posture into a concise, memorable identity that is used across its communications.

• The Trusted Disruptor

This two-word phrase is effectively the company's promise to the market: we are a partner you can rely on, but we will also challenge the status quo to deliver superior, next-generation solutions. For a deeper dive into who is betting on this promise, you should read Exploring L3Harris Technologies, Inc. (LHX) Investor Profile: Who's Buying and Why?

L3Harris Technologies, Inc. (LHX) How It Works

L3Harris Technologies, Inc. operates as a defense technology prime contractor, delivering mission-critical solutions across all domains-Space, Air, Land, Sea, and Cyber-by integrating advanced sensing, electronic warfare, and resilient communications systems for government and commercial customers globally.

The company generates its revenue by designing, manufacturing, and sustaining high-tech defense and aerospace products, securing large, multi-year contracts from the U.S. Department of Defense and international allies, which drove its total revenue guidance for fiscal year 2025 to approximately $22.0 billion.

L3Harris Technologies, Inc.'s Product/Service Portfolio

L3Harris Technologies' value proposition is segmented across four key business units, each providing specialized, high-margin technology that aligns with the accelerating demand in a new era of defense spending.

L3Harris Technologies, Inc.'s Operational Framework

The operational framework is centered on the 'Trusted Disruptor' strategy, which aims to drive speed, agility, and innovation into the traditional defense industrial base, allowing the company to rapidly deploy resilient solutions.

A core part of this is the internal transformation initiative, LHX NeXt (pronounced 'L-H-X Next'), which focuses on simplifying the operating model and delivering significant cost savings. The goal for cost savings through this initiative was aggressively raised to $1.2 billion by the end of 2025, a year ahead of the original schedule.

Here's the quick math: the company's Q3 2025 performance saw a robust organic revenue growth of 10%, reflecting the success of this focus on operational excellence and execution.

• Streamline the supply chain to accelerate production volumes, especially for missile and munitions programs.
• Invest ahead of the curve in high-growth areas like space, munitions, and AI-enabled solutions, including a strategic partnership with Palantir.
• Prioritize cash generation, with free cash flow guidance for 2025 set at approximately $2.65 billion.
• Manage a record order backlog, which was $6.7 billion in Q3 2025 alone, ensuring a strong book-to-bill ratio of 1.2x.

If you want to dive deeper into the ownership structure behind this operational momentum, you should check out Exploring L3Harris Technologies, Inc. (LHX) Investor Profile: Who's Buying and Why?

L3Harris Technologies, Inc.'s Strategic Advantages

L3Harris Technologies' market success is built on a few clear, structural advantages that differentiate it from larger, more traditional defense primes. They are defintely positioned to capture the generational investment cycle in defense spending.

• Domain Diversification: The company's portfolio is balanced across all five domains (Space, Air, Maritime, Land, Cyber), minimizing risk from budget shifts in any single area.
• Business-Model Agnostic Approach: They can win contracts as a prime contractor, a subcontractor, or a merchant supplier of components, giving them flexibility to bid on a wider range of opportunities.
• Propulsion Integration: The acquisition of Aerojet Rocketdyne in 2023 provides a critical, in-house capability for space and missile propulsion, which is essential for hypersonic and strategic defense systems.
• Margin Expansion: Sustained focus on efficiency, evidenced by the eighth consecutive quarter of year-over-year adjusted segment operating margin expansion, reaching 15.9% in Q3 2025.
• International Momentum: Significant contract wins abroad, such as the $2.2 billion Korea Airborne Early Warning & Control award, highlight a growing global footprint and demand for their systems.

L3Harris Technologies, Inc. (LHX) How It Makes Money

L3Harris Technologies primarily makes money by designing, manufacturing, and servicing advanced technology solutions for government, defense, and commercial customers globally. The core revenue engine is built on long-term, high-value contracts with the U.S. Department of Defense and international allies for sophisticated systems across the air, land, sea, space, and cyber domains.

L3Harris Technologies' Revenue Breakdown

The company's projected full-year 2025 revenue is approximately $22.0 billion, with the majority flowing from its four core business segments. Here is the breakdown of the revenue streams based on the updated 2025 guidance, showing where the money comes from and the momentum behind each segment.

Here's the quick math on the segmentation, using the midpoint of the Aerojet Rocketdyne guidance and the total $22.0 billion revenue target:

Business Economics

The economic fundamentals of L3Harris Technologies are rooted in the defense industry's high barriers to entry, long product life cycles, and predictable government spending. The business model is not about volume sales; it's about specialized, mission-critical technology.

• Pricing Strategy: Revenue is largely driven by government contracts, which fall into two main categories: cost-plus and fixed-price. Cost-plus contracts offer lower risk and more predictable margins, while fixed-price contracts carry higher execution risk but can offer greater reward if performance is efficient. Exposure to fixed-price contracts is defintely a key risk to monitor.
• Revenue Visibility: The company benefits from a massive, highly visible pipeline of contracted work. As of the end of the third quarter of 2025, the total backlog stood at a record $36.3 billion. This backlog underpins future revenue, with approximately 45% expected to be recognized as revenue over the next twelve months.
• Growth Drivers: Near-term growth is fueled by increasing global security demand and strategic investments in high-growth areas like space and munitions. The Aerojet Rocketdyne segment, for example, is seeing an organic growth trend of 13% due to strong demand for solid rocket motors and interceptors.
• Efficiency Program: The company's internal restructuring, known as LHX NeXt, is a critical margin driver. This initiative is on track to deliver approximately $1.2 billion in cost savings by the end of 2025, which directly boosts operating margins.

To be fair, the long-term sustainability of this model rests on its ability to align with the U.S. Department of Defense's evolving priorities, which you can read more about in our Mission Statement, Vision, & Core Values of L3Harris Technologies, Inc. (LHX).

L3Harris Technologies' Financial Performance

The company's financial health as of late 2025 shows strong execution and margin expansion, validating its focus on operational excellence and cost control.

• Profitability: The adjusted segment operating margin for the third quarter of 2025 was 15.9%, marking the eighth consecutive quarter of year-over-year expansion. This margin improvement is a direct result of the LHX NeXt cost-savings program and improved program performance.
• Earnings Per Share (EPS): The full-year 2025 Non-GAAP diluted EPS guidance was recently increased to a range of $10.50-$10.70 per share. This is a strong indicator of management's confidence in translating revenue growth into bottom-line profit.
• Cash Flow: L3Harris Technologies is a significant cash generator, with full-year 2025 free cash flow (FCF) guidance reaffirmed at approximately $2.65 billion. This robust FCF is what enables the company to invest in the business, pay down debt, and return capital to shareholders.
• Key Momentum: The Space & Airborne Systems segment is the largest by revenue and is seeing a 7% organic growth trend, driven by multiple classified Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance (ISR) programs ramping up. That's where the big dollars are flowing.

L3Harris Technologies, Inc. (LHX) Market Position & Future Outlook

L3Harris Technologies is strategically positioned as a critical defense electronics and communications systems integrator, driving growth by aligning its core capabilities with the US Department of Defense's (DoD) Joint All-Domain Command and Control (JADC2) initiative.

The company's strong third-quarter 2025 performance, with revenue of $5.7 billion and a record backlog of $36.3 billion, suggests sustained momentum, but its future hinges on successfully transitioning from a component supplier to a prime systems integrator in the high-growth domains of space and cyber.

Competitive Landscape

In the US defense market, L3Harris competes against larger prime contractors, specializing in the C4ISR (Command, Control, Communications, Computers, Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance) and defense electronics segments where it holds a leadership position.

Here's the quick math: These percentages are illustrative of the relative scale among the largest US defense prime contractors by revenue, where Lockheed Martin's projected 2025 revenue of approximately $71.0 billion and Northrop Grumman's $41.0 billion dwarf L3Harris's $21.3 billion, but L3Harris dominates niche, high-margin electronics.

Opportunities & Challenges

The company's 'Trusted Disruptor' strategy is focused on capturing new contracts in high-priority areas, but this pivot requires significant capital investment and flawless execution to manage the inherent risks of complex development programs.

Industry Position

L3Harris is a critical Tier 1 supplier, increasingly competing for prime contractor status in specific, technology-intensive domains. Its strength is not in building the fighter jet or the warship, but in providing the 'brains' and 'eyes' for those platforms.

• Lead in Tactical Communications: The company holds a dominant position in secure, resilient tactical radio systems, which are foundational to allied interoperability.
• Space & Missile Defense: Significant investment is targeting the rapidly growing low-Earth orbit (LEO) satellite market and missile defense systems, evidenced by their new propulsion facility.
• Financial Health: The company reported strong Q3 2025 non-GAAP diluted EPS of $2.70, reflecting solid operational execution and margin expansion.
• Global Footprint: New facilities, like the Warsaw office opened in November 2025, show a defintely concerted effort to deepen ties with NATO allies and secure new international defense modernization contracts.

The core challenge is executing on the massive backlog and proving that the recent strategic investments will translate into sustained, profitable growth beyond the current geopolitical tailwinds. To be fair, the market is rewarding their execution, but you still need to watch the margin expansion closely. You can dive deeper into the ownership structure and market sentiment by Exploring L3Harris Technologies, Inc. (LHX) Investor Profile: Who's Buying and Why?