Lockheed Engineering Decisions That Quietly Became Standard On Modern Airliners

Lockheed Martin may not build commercial airliners today, but engineering decisions from its history—and from companies it acquired—show up across modern Boeing, Airbus, and Embraer fleets. The article traces how contributions tied to Lockheed’s corporate roots reshaped navigation and aircraft systems, focusing on work that flowed from the ring laser gyroscope developed by Martin Marietta. Entering service in the early 1980s, the ring laser gyroscope replaced spinning mechanical gyroscopes, offering no gimbals, very low wear, high accuracy, and reliability. The piece notes the technology’s influence on ETOPS and ocean navigation, and lists commercial aircraft that adopted it, including Boeing 757, 767, 747-400, 777, and several Airbus and MD-11 models. Today, Honeywell is highlighted as a major player in inertial reference systems.