Northrop Grumman headquarters in Falls Church, Virginia. Photo: Northrop Grumman.

Northrop Grumman’s Space segment saw an 8% decline in sales in 2025, but the company is projecting a return to growth in 2026. 

Northrop Grumman reported full-year sales on Tuesday. Space Systems sales in 2025 were $10.8 billion, a decline of $960 million compared to 2024. The company attributed the decline to work winding down on a canceled classified space program and the Next Generation Interceptor (NGI) program, which was awarded to Lockheed Martin. 

Also in 2025, the Space segment saw a $172 million decrease for Space Development Agency (SDA) satellite programs due to the timing of materials and a $102 million decrease in lower volume on the Space Launch System (SLS) booster program. 

Operating income was also down for the Space segment in 2025, declining 6% year-over-year to $1.2 billion. However, Space had a large 17% boost in operating income in the fourth quarter.  

New CFO John Greene told investors on Tuesday that Northrop Grumman expects Space sales to grow to $11 billion in 2026, driven by multiple restricted space and missile defense programs, stable volumes on the GEM 63 solid rocket booster, and modest headwinds on NASA programs.

Space Systems had a strong year of awards in 2025, ending the year with backlog up 13% to $26.2 billion — $9.1 billion of which is funded. 

Outgoing CFO Kenneth Crews said the Space backlog is driven by GEM 63 orders for Amazon Project Leo, which supports deliveries into the 2030, as well as an SDA award for 18 satellites for the Tranche 3 Tracking layer, another launch for NASA’s Commercial Resupply Services (CRS), and growth in classified programs. 

CEO Kathy Warden spoke about Northrop Grumman focusing on developing strategic deterrence assets in emerging areas in space. “[Space] has evolved into a warfighting domain,” Warden said. “Space security or capabilities to protect space assets represents a tremendous growth opportunity for our company given our proven technology and experience in this domain.”