Pentagon Maintains Covid Plan to Speed Cash to Contractors (1)

The Pentagon is sticking with a plan developed in the early days of the Covid-19 pandemic to speed progress payments to defense contractors, even as evidence mounts that major companies appear financially healthy and are stepping up stock buybacks.

Under the accelerated payments plan, the Defense Department provided $4.6 billion to defense contractors as of March 31, department spokeswoman Jessica Maxwell said in a statement. About $2.4 billion of that total was paid to top contractors Lockheed Martin Corp., Boeing Co., Raytheon Technologies Corp., Northrop Grumman Corp. and the Lockheed-Boeing United Launch Alliance LLC joint spacecraft venture, ...