Lockheed Martin decided to implement IBM Cloud Pak® for Data as its centralized data platform. The solution’s built-in data fabric architecture allowed the company to connect a complex data landscape encompassing databases, data lakes, data lakehouses, and data reporting tools. Using IBM Cloud Pak for Data, Lockheed Martin reduced the number of its data and AI tools by half.

With a unified and scalable data foundation now in place, the company can reliably access its highest-quality data, enabling the rapid deployment of AI-based solutions across the enterprise through its AI Factory ecosystem.

The Lockheed Martin AI Factory is a secure AI ecosystem where engineers can build, iterate on, and deploy AI solutions, at scale. The IBM^® Granite^® family of open-source large language models (LLMs), complemented by other best-in-class models, is hosted within Lockheed Martin’s AI Factory, empowering its workforce of 10,000 engineers to drive innovation and accelerate business transformation, while enhancing the success of national security missions through the creation of advanced assistants and agents.

Data management, governance, and orchestration products from the IBM watsonx® portfolio radically improve internal operations. GenAI models have eliminated the need for specialized coding by letting employees inquire about source data in their natural language.

Agentic frameworks and virtual assistants built within the AI Factory have enabled the company to better manage complex workflows, simplify interactions between people and technology, and enhance efficiency through process automation and optimization.

Finally, as part of an initiative to establish trusted and secure guardrails for scaling AI, the company has adopted the watsonx® end-to-end AI governance toolkit to ensure responsible, transparent, and explainable AI. This initiative is crucial for maintaining ethical standards and compliance with industry best practices and data privacy regulations.

Lockheed Martin’s data and AI transformation has already yielded significant results.

The solutions provided by IBM have helped Lockheed Martin consolidate 46 disparate data systems and tools onto a single integrated platform. The company’s internal operations and data management processes are now streamlined to enable rapid, cost-effective innovation.

Lockheed Martin has also been able to better manage employee inquiries and HR-related tasks using watsonx conversational AI chatbots. These AI assistants have helped to simplify the company’s rapid response to employee questions and improve HR processes.

Early results for a gen AI question answering pilot program showed a substantial increase in the accuracy of responses to sample questions—rising from 45.45% to 56.8% with prompt engineering and 66.0% with query optimization.

Lockheed Martin’s forward-thinking approach to AI technology, and its strategic partnership with IBM, have positioned the company to exceed customer demands and to build a strong foundation for future growth and competitiveness in an ever-evolving technology landscape.

Lockheed Martin (link resides outside of ibm.com) is a global defense technology company driving rapid innovation and advancing scientific discovery. The company’s all-domain mission solutions and 21st Century Security® vision accelerate the delivery of transformative technologies to ensure those we serve always stay ahead of ready.