Martin Marietta formed in 1961 by the merger of the
Glenn L. Martin Company and
American-Marietta Corporation. Martin, based in
Baltimore, was primarily an
aerospace concern with a recent focus on
missiles, namely its
Titan program. This program was established in 1955 when the company secured the U.S. Air Force contract to build the country's second intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM). American-Marietta was headquartered in
Chicago and produced paints, dyes, metallurgical products, construction materials, and other goods. In 1982, Martin Marietta was subject to a hostile takeover bid by the
Bendix Corporation, headed by
William Agee. Bendix bought the majority of Martin Marietta shares and in effect owned the company. However, Martin Marietta's management used the short time separating ownership and control to sell non-core businesses and launch its own hostile takeover of Bendix (known as the
Pac-Man defense). Thomas G. Pownall, CEO of Martin Marietta, was successful and the end of this extraordinarily bitter battle saw Martin Marietta survive; Bendix was bought by
Allied Corporation. In July 1993 CEO
Norman Augustine participated in what he called the "
Last Supper", where
Les Aspin and
William Perry disclosed to a number of prime contractors that, because the
Cold War had drawn to a successful conclusion, the defense industry would shrink and the
Department of Defense had no need for the plethora of them. The flurry of mergers in this industry over the next decade can be traced to this event, including his company's merger with Lockheed.
Timeline • 1961: Martin Marietta formed by merger of the
Glenn L. Martin Company and American-Marietta Corporation • 1963: Martin Marietta starts building floating nuclear power plant
MH-1A as part of the
Army Nuclear Power Program • 1969: Martin Marietta commissioned to build the
Mark IV monorail used on the
Walt Disney World Monorail System between 1971 and 1989 • 1971: Martin Marietta loses landmark sex discrimination suit before the Supreme Court, in
Phillips v. Martin Marietta Corp. • 1975: Acquires
Hoskyns Group (UK IT services company) • 1982:
Bendix Corporation's attempted takeover ends in its own sale to Allied Corporation; Martin Marietta survives • 1986: Wins contract to convert
Titan II ICBMs into space launch vehicles. The Martin Company built the original ICBMs • 1987: Electronics & Missiles Group formed, headquartered in
Orlando • 1991: Electronics & Missiles Group reorganized into the Electronics, Information & Missiles Group • 1993: Acquires
GE Aerospace for 3 billion
USD, allowing combined marketing of complementary systems, e.g. Martin Marietta's Titan missiles launching GE Aerospace's satellites • 1993: Acquires management contract for
Sandia National Laboratories • 1993: Acquires
General Dynamics' Space Systems Division, maker of the Atlas family of launch vehicles • 1994: Martin Marietta completed its
initial public offering of 19% of the common stock of
Martin Marietta Materials, which is listed on the
New York Stock Exchange as MLM • 1995: Martin Marietta merged with
Lockheed Corporation to form
Lockheed Martin • 1996: Lockheed Martin splits off
Martin Marietta Materials as a separate and independent entity ==Products==