The Long View: Kathy Warden, Chair, CEO and President, Northrop Grumman

“The Angle” Music

Cold OPEN “I view it as a privilege to be in rooms where we're talking about issues like global security, and providing the underpinning for the U.S. and our allies to have economic stability.”

Eric Veiel

Welcome back to The Angle from T. Rowe Price, a podcast for curious investors. Just a reminder that outside of the U.S., this podcast is for investment professionals only. In this episode of The Long View, we're joined by Kathy Warden, Chair, CEO, and President of Northrop Grumman, a global aerospace and defense company. We explore her leadership journey, how she's leading through a more complex security environment, and how innovation in areas such as AI, autonomy and space is shaping the future of defense.

Thank you so much for being on The Angle with us, Kathy. We really appreciate your time. And as we're seeing in real time in Iran, in the Middle East today, the systems that Northrop builds are not theoretical, they're shaping global outcomes in real time. You don't come from a traditional engineering background. How did you end up as CEO of one of the largest defense companies in the world?

Kathy Warden

It was a circuitous path that I took. I started my career working at General Electric, which was a fantastic firm for leadership development, and I gained terrific insights into multiple industries as a diversified company. I got to work in three of the General Electric businesses before I left there to join a startup, and it was a technology startup. It was late 90s. So, for those of you listening, who remember that time.

Eric Veiel

Had to take your shot.

Kathy Warden

The.com boom. And so, I spent a few years in that industry, and I had navigated into a part of technology that was applicable to national security. And after 9/11, that's when my career path changed. I was asked to work on a project with the intelligence community to leverage technology for information sharing. Key, issue of the time, as you may recall. And I thought, I'll go do this for a few years. I feel a sense of responsibility to help our nation recover from the worst terrorist attack we had ever suffered on our homeland. And then I'll go back to my roots of commercial technology. But, what happened was I began to really enjoy what I was doing. I found a purpose in my work that I hadn't found up until that point. And I decided that I would stay in this area as long as I was challenged. And I certainly have been challenged. It's been a dynamic environment, as you said, and I've had the opportunity to not only grow my career but increasingly have an impact on the systems that we build and field in support of U.S. and global security.

So, I find myself today really at a point where being the CEO of this company is an honor and a privilege. It is a tremendous company with vast amounts of technology. And as you point out, that technology is being used for space exploration, military operations, and national security purposes beyond what I frankly could have even envisioned.

Eric Veiel

Yeah, it's an amazing company. We'll certainly get into those different parts of it. I'm curious what you have done to sort of earn credibility given more of a business background working in an organization with such an engineering focus, how have you sort of been able to command the respect of those teams?

Kathy Warden

I've always enjoyed math and science, so even in my undergraduate degree, it was computer systems, as you said. But I went into the computer science department and took the most technical programing classes and such and really have always had a curiosity and a passion for learning, particularly in the math and science areas. So that has been core in my career throughout. As I've come into this industry there is so much technology. No one can be an expert in all of it. And so, it's really about building credibility through asking the right questions. Being a continuous learner, showing interest, and just relying on a team that is extremely capable, but also willing to share and open up their learning to me.,

Eric Veiel

That’s amazing. Yeah, that's a, great advice for anybody at any point in their career. Let's jump into the current environment. So clearly, a new world order where, you know, demand for what you do is not in question at all. On your earnings call just this week, it was clear that between the needs of the U.S. government and our allies, this, the issue is not so much about demand, but speed to deliver, and I think you all are being asked to move faster than the defense industry really ever has. How are you all going to think about, you know, meeting that demand at the pace that the industry and that your customers are really asking for?

Kathy Warden

We've been investing in this moment for several years. We have, over the last five years, invested a higher rate in research and development, as well as capital to supply the capabilities and the capacity that our customers need to build munitions and spacecraft, aircraft. And as we have done that, we have found that in these recent months there is a real, real willingness for the government to think differently about how they work with us to facilitate for speed. So, up until this point, we've been doing the things that we could do, but now through acquisition, transformation, through a willingness to think differently about how we go through the development, integration, and testing of systems, so that they can be deployed more rapidly. We are breaking down old paradigms, because to your point, this industry wasn't viewed as an industry that could move fast. And I would suggest it wasn't that we couldn't. It was the systems and structures around our work were not set up to move with speed. And with that priority in mind we are showing we can move for speed.

Eric Veiel

So does that look more like the government saying to you all, hey, we're willing to commit to long-term investment in these programs, so that you can then forward-build capacity to, to meet those needs. Or is it more of the, the day-to-day like, hey, you have to approve this contract. It usually takes a month, but now they'll turn it around in a few days, and that has a multiplier effect.

Kathy Warden

It's so many things in the day-to-day way that we work together. It is appropriating funds with a longer lens, so that we can plan for capacity into the future. A plant doesn't get built in a day. It's a multi-year investment. It's also contracting more quickly, as you said. It's qualifying our systems. So going through the test regime, never compromising quality or safety, but making sure that we are qualifying more quickly. And then it's us looking at innovations that we can make in our manufacturing methods, so that we can produce faster. And all of that is happening now in ways that have broken down traditional ways of working, and we're reconstituting new ways of working with the government. And I expect those fully to last. Everything is in a state of transition at the moment, and so it's not locked down, but I think that's a good thing, that innovation and new ways of working are being welcomed.

Eric Veiel

So, one of the, you know, you are, and you all work on some amazingly complex projects, whether it's the B-21 or Sentinel or anything like that. So, the supply chain itself is, I am sure, an incredible part of what you have to manage. Is that where the bottlenecks tend to be, or is it everywhere? And maybe talk a little bit about supply chain management and how that could be a change for you all?

Kathy Warden

Well, it's true in the value stream that the weakest link becomes the constraint for the entire production line. I am never one to suggest that it's the supply chain, though, because I am in the supply chain for other companies. And what it means is that we all have to come together when we are in the value chain together and plan capacity and know what that demand is, so that we can appropriately be prepared to execute against it. That is usually the responsibility of the company that is in the lead for the product line. So, when we have that responsibility, like we do on a B-21, we look at what all of our suppliers need. We give them clear demand signals and we flow that down. That's how we all have to work in this ecosystem, so that we don't have a weak link. Because it doesn't serve any of us well to just point the finger at another supplier. We need to be able to work together to get this done.

Eric Veiel

It was interesting, I think, on the call just this week, you all talked about the B-21 program and sort of making a capital investment pretty far ahead of, you know, when deliveries will, will, actually come. What was it, this, that gave you the confidence to take that level of capital risk on that program?

Kathy Warden

Yeah, so its two things, the clear commitment that we have from the department that was manifested in an agreement that we reached in the first quarter, but also the very strong bipartisan support for the program and the National Defense Strategy, recognizing that the triad modernization, of which B-21 is a part, is core to not only our nation's deterrence, but our military operations. And we've seen its predecessor platform, the B-2, be heavily used, used more than it has ever been in this last 12 months. So that's giving us the confidence that the program of record may even grow, based on our ability to produce faster, which is what this most recent agreement is enabling.

Eric Veiel

So that program in and of itself, I think, is one that's been very important to you and to the whole, to the whole company. What do you all do in terms of thinking about, how could this go wrong? Like what is the, the, pre-mortems as you think about making that commitment and then running the program of that size?

Kathy Warden

Well, certainly we do spend a good amount of time thinking about risk. What could go wrong. We also think about opportunities though, and in today's environment, we see embracing technology in the ways we work as a key unlock to both moving faster but also becoming more productive. So, when we started the B-21, we were operating in what we believed at the time was a state-of-the-art digital environment, and it was, almost a decade ago. But today, we have brought even more technology to the factory floor, helping our technicians to be able to see into the aircraft, be able to do nondestructive inspection and test mechanisms, things that didn't even exist ten years ago when we started the program. So, that ability to embrace new technologies in manufacturing processes are certainly ways that help the B-21 to be successful.

Eric Veiel

That's, that's, fantastic. Let's pivot a little bit to, to drones, which I think everybody would say is definitely changing the nature of warfare. What's your role in this kind of evolution? And maybe to the extent that you can discuss Project Talon, and how that fits in. I'm curious about how you're thinking of this, this change.

Kathy Warden

We have a rich legacy in autonomous systems; over 500,000 flight hours in systems that are completely autonomous. So, these are not remotely piloted drones. These are drones that have the vehicle-management system to fly itself. So, with Project Talon we look to do two things. The first was look at how we can build these platforms faster and more affordably.

Eric Veiel

And maybe can I just ask you, can you explain Talon, just in whatever, you know, cleared, clearance version?

Kathy Warden

Yes, absolutely. Yes, so Talon is two components. Talon blue is the platform, and that's what I was just mentioning. That is an unmanned aircraft that allows us to show we can build these faster and more affordably. Because of course to get affordable mass, we have to be able to do that. And so, it was about our manufacturing processes, our design processes, and the supply chain that could do that. And it was an investment that we made to demonstrate that manufacturing capability for an unmanned system.

The second key piece we call Talon IQ and Talon IQ is about the brains of the system. And there we have created a testbed where we've taken all that experience that I just talked about for, our previous versions of unmanned systems, brought that expertise and allowed others who are working on autonomy to use that testbed to test their systems. In this first quarter, we just used that to test with Shield AI and showed that we could move from one autonomy system to another one in flight.

Eric Veiel

Interesting, so almost like an open-source testing environment, to help connect all of these different systems, regardless of who the, the, defense contractor is, at the, the, source of it.

Kathy Warden

That's right. And so that too is a platform. It is an optionally manned testbed because you can't test autonomy and unmanned capacity. So, we have created the platform to support that testbed. These investments are ones that we're making so that we can have a position as a prime contractor. But as is always the case, we are looking to also bring our partners into these environments so that we can choose partners that best meet the government's requirements and help them to build their capability in this environment as well.

Eric Veiel

Yeah, I mean, you all are a critical player in the defense systems related to, to, drones, and not just drones and other, you know, defense systems for, for these as the leading producer of solid rocket motors in the industry. How has this changed the way that you think about missile defense? And you think about providing missile defense to the United States and to our allies?

Kathy Warden

Missile defense has been an important part of our portfolio. It is though, now one of the fastest growing, it's approaching 10% of our revenue. And it's a reflection of increased U.S. demand for homeland security, including missile defense, as well as our allies around the globe, particularly in Europe, in the Middle East. Recent conflict and tensions have drawn the need to deploy systems that protect short, mid- and long-range against ballistic missiles. And we also are working on the next generation of technology, protecting against hypersonic missiles as they become more widely deployed. And this missile defense regime is not just about an interceptor who can, which can intercept the missile that's incoming. It's about being able to detect, often from space, to then track, and then to be able to target and put the interceptor where it needs to be, so that we're protected from incoming missiles or drones.

Eric Veiel

Right. That's, it's unbelievable how something, if you think about the physics of what these interceptors do is, it's mind boggling. You mentioned that part of this is observing from space and targeting and, and identifying from space. Maybe talk a little bit about the space program within your company. Obviously a big part of Artemis II, and that's an amazing accomplishment. I believe you were the provider of the rockets that that lifted it, but let's talk a little bit about what you all do on the space front.

Kathy Warden

Yes. Well, we are very proud to be part of the space exploration mission. As you mentioned, with Artemis II, having launched and propelled the rockets into space that allowed our astronauts to get in proximity of the moon again, it's a very exciting milestone. And we also developed the James Webb Space Telescope, which still today is producing just miraculous images of our universe and galaxies beyond our own. So that is an amazing set of capabilities, but it really only accounts for about 3% of our space business. The vast majority of our space business is in national security space, where we're doing the things that we talked about in missile defense of detecting and tracking incoming missiles, or enabling communications systems to operate for the military, or providing intelligence and reconnaissance. These are all really important capability areas that our nation has had for decades now, but is in the process of modernizing because space really has become a war-fighting domain. And just like any other air, land, sea, it needs to have the resiliency. So, we've been working in that area as well to make sure that our systems are built with the resiliency in mind.

Eric Veiel

That's a, it's actually a great segue. We're, we're, let's talk a little bit about sort of the, the, future of defense and also the future of the industry. So, we're seeing sort of this new generation of defense companies, more software driven, venture backed, come in and I wouldn't say fully disrupt, but certainly changing the way the industry works. How do you view that shift? And would you categorize these as competitors, partners, or, you know, something else?

Kathy Warden

All of the above. Defense tech is an area where we have played and companies big and small team together. That is how our industry has and will continue to work. It's unlike most, most industries companies compete against one another. Here, one day we're competing with a company, and the next day they're on our team for something else. And so we expect that to continue to be the case. And we always embrace big, small, mid-sized companies that have been in business, five years, companies that have been in business for 50-plus years. And that's the way the ecosystem is working today. We are a company that focuses on technology leadership. We want to solve the hardest problems for our customers. That's how we create the deepest moats. That's how we provide value. And we are doing that often by not relying on all innovation from inside the walls of Northrop Grumman, but instead embracing research, development, and technology products from other companies. And the Talon IQ example that I gave where we've created a testbed not just for our stuff, but for our would-be competitors and partners alike. To come and benefit from that environment, is an example of how we take a role in making sure that our customers are getting the very best, and sometimes that might be us, sometimes it might be others, but we are moving this technology ecosystem that our customers rely on forward every day.

Eric Veiel

It's interesting. I, my last conversation was with Jim Farley of Ford. And, you know, they have this big shift in their industry towards electronic vehicles. And he essentially had to stand up a separate company to go, to go, after that. As you think about the way these, these, newer software-driven companies are coming into the industry. Is there, is there an avenue where there's a separate part of Northrop that just sort of directly uses that business model to, to, maybe compliment what they're doing or to compete directly with what they're doing.

Kathy Warden

We've worked to flex our business model across the entire enterprise to embrace new technology, to partner in the ways that I mentioned, to contract with the government in more commercial-like ways. We've decided that it's not just a part of our company where these transformations are going to unlock value creation. And so, we sometimes pilot or we start in a particular area, but it's always our intent to scale them across the enterprise because if we find that they're working, we want to make sure that we're leveraging them broadly.

Eric Veiel

That's, that makes tons of sense. It would be impossible to have a conversation about the way the defense world is evolving without speaking about AI in terms of many different angles, but let's take it this way. How does it change the way systems are developed and deployed within Northrop Grumman?

Kathy Warden

There are two ways that AI is transforming the way we are working. One is directly in the products we're building. We are incorporating artificial intelligence into the products we deliver to our customer. The second is that we are using AI in our systems development lifecycle, to do design, to facilitate faster development. And even as we move into production to optimize our production processes. And so you can think about it as embedded in the product as well as embedded in the way we build the product. And of course, embedded in our back office as it is in most enterprises. That means we have to have a robust governance process inside of our company for AI, particularly as we think about when it's embedded into our products, and we work closely with the government to inform their working groups and regulation in that environment, and to really just make sure that we are aligned on the ethical and human-led activities that we are supporting in using artificial intelligence.

Eric Veiel

It's interesting, being in a regulated industry like financial services, we have obviously have to think very carefully about how we use it, especially around customer data. But the level of security that you have to use makes it almost seem like child's play. So, I imagine the partnership with the government in terms of how you deploy AI has to be incredibly close knit?

Kathy Warden

It absolutely is. And we also think about AI models that are being deployed to organizations that would want to use that technology against us to exploit or gain access to the information that we hold, both in unclassified and more importantly, classified environments. So, we work closely with the government to make sure that we do think of that from a cybersecurity perspective, as well as the vulnerabilities in AI technology itself.

Eric Veiel

Yeah, I imagine your cyber defenses get tested every moment of every day, and it's clear that with the newest models coming out from the leading large language model companies, that's going to just get even more difficult to, to, defend against. Maybe let's pivot a little bit towards the business side. So, capital allocations, an interesting topic for a defense company. How do you think about the near term of balancing shareholder return versus the need to invest in, to work with a partner who's paying a lot of attention to how you allocate capital?

Kathy Warden

Well, the good news is our capital deployment strategy has remained consistent. And it is first and foremost to invest in our company when we have opportunities to provide our shareholders a good return on that investment and to produce capability that our customers want. What we are seeing is that the government is very aligned to asking our industry to do just that. Make that your first priority, in capital deployment, that you would invest in the capacity needed to supply their demand. And we are doing that.

We also, though, recognize we need to pay a healthy and growing dividend. And we have been doing that, and that when we have excess capital we would return that to shareholders. Right now, it's such an opportunity rich environment that we do see many ways to deploy our capital inside the company to build capability and capacity our customers want, and so that is a good place to be. And that is what we're doing. And this administration is certainly embracing that. We over the last two years alone have opened more than 2,000,000ft² of manufacturing capacity, adding to the 30 million that we already had, and that's in 20 new facilities. So, we feel very well aligned to what this administration is asking of us and the industry.

Eric Veiel

Yeah, that, I have to well, I'll ask you it this way is in your, you know, decades in this industry, have you ever seen an environment where you felt as confident about the demand side of the equation as you do today, and then thus making it much easier to think, this is, and this is the time to be spending that capital?

Kathy Warden

I absolutely believe it's time to be spending that capital, and that we are getting the commitments from our government that the demand will be sustained, that they will give us long-term contracts or agreements that document that long-term sustained demand for the products that we are investing in. I also would point out this is not unique to the United States. We've just been talking about the U.S. administration, but globally, we see unprecedented demand. And while we know that defense industrial bases in other countries are also growing and being boosted, there is still a heavy reliance on the United States for the capabilities that we have. Some of the most advanced in the world, and products that can't be bought anywhere else. And we believe that that too will be a sustained demand.

Eric Veiel

Why don't we pivot a little bit here to sort of leadership in some of the, things that you've learned over, a really impressive career? At what point for you, I'm really curious, did the job stop being about running a business and the kind of the weight of being a national level responsibility? I mean, you and a few other CEOs of these companies really bear that weight.

Kathy Warden

I don't think about it as a weight. I view it as a privilege to be in rooms where we're talking about issues like global security and providing the underpinning for the U.S. and our allies to have economic stability. It is a privilege that comes with a lot of responsibility. That is for sure. But I am building on the shoulders of giants. Both the people who work in my company. I look at the team we have assembled here, and I believe the engineering talent that exists in this company is second-to-none. And so, we have a credible seat at the table because we have that knowledge and expertise. And that doesn't come from me personally. It comes from the institution and how we've invested and the people that we've attracted and retained and the impact and value that we have had. And so I'm just humbled to be able to be the voice of all of that. Decades of legacy, expertise and contribution.

Eric Veiel

That's amazing. Maybe build on that a little bit. What is your, if you had to describe it, your philosophy on building and maintaining that talent in, in an industry where it's just so critical to have the very best.

Kathy Warden

We have been recognized as a great place to work. And I don't take that lightly. It takes a commitment to our people. It takes investment in our people. It takes our people investing in one another, passing knowledge down, mentoring, supporting. And when you have that and it's working inside your company, it's like magic because it becomes the thing that attracts others. It becomes why people stay. It provides the relationships that make people most productive and able to get their work done because they trust one another, and they, they, know one another, they care about one another. It is fragile. It is culture that you have to cultivate but can go away in an instant if you lose focus on it. So as a company, we very much focus on our values being aligned around those values, hiring people who share those values, evaluating performance. And that creates an environment where we are. It's not hard work to attract and retain talent. It's just, it is the work.

Eric Veiel

One of the things that somebody told me once about culture is that it's the big and the small things that you celebrate within your organization. Can you give us an insight? So when the Artemis launch happened and it was successful, what was, what was the celebration here? Once it was clear that you could, you could, celebrate.

Kathy Warden

Well, it's an amazing celebration. It's obviously the team that is core to delivering that capability. But we often say it's the thousands of people that are contributing to that team's success. It's the back-office functions. It's the other team that maybe isn't seeing their moment in the spotlight today, but they gave up their best engineer to go work on that project to help out. It's, it's, those little things, and it's the connection to everyone in this company, is playing an important role in what we are able to deliver. And whether it's your moment to shine or it's somebody else's moment to shine. It doesn't work unless we're all working toward those goals together. And there are big moments. James Webb, B-21, Artemis II. But there are lots of small moments, things that people will never hear about because they're classified. And those are.

Eric Veiel

Hard to celebrate those.

Kathy Warden

And yet we do celebrate them with the team that can celebrate them. You have to celebrate the big and the little.

Eric Veiel

That's, that's really interesting. I hadn't thought about the classified nature of it before. I'd like to get your perspective on, sort of, what advice you give to younger folks getting into the workforce. And, you and I were chatting before we got started, both graduates of James Madison here in Virginia, and I was down there last weekend, and there's a real anxiety amongst the younger workforce around what artificial intelligence is going to mean for their prospects. What do you say to that group of folks coming up right now?

Kathy Warden

Well, first, I'd say as leaders, we have a responsibility to paint the vision of how technology is going to enable our business to grow, rather than focus on technology as the enemy and something to be feared. And we have seen these evolutions over time. Computing, our mathematicians and scientists 40, 50 years ago were doing a lot on paper and with pencil. That and calculators today is being done for them through advancements in computing. Then we saw robotics hit our manufacturing floors. And we do have less technicians doing the work on our manufacturing lines today than we did then, but we have been able to pivot that talent to leading the manufacturing process to operating those machines. And these are even higher value jobs and higher paying jobs. And so, it's management's responsibility to not only paint the picture of how technology is going to change the work, but allow our employees to co-create and see themselves playing new roles in that work and then grow with the opportunities that it represents. Now, there are always times where you will actually have fewer people when you have introduced a technology, and then it's about redeploying that talent, giving educational opportunities, and work experiences that can help somebody reposition themselves in the new economy.

Eric Veiel

And that's really a microcosm of how this economy has grown for 250 years, is through technological innovation. And I do think it's understandable why, while this one feels maybe a little bit different, but it's also just newer. And I think once we all sort of get used to it, it'll become that growth engine that you've talked about that will lead to great opportunities. Five years from now, what decisions that you're making now do you think will have the biggest impact? We'll look back and say, wow, that was, those were the key decisions that we made.

Kathy Warden

I have always found that talent decisions are the ones that tend to outlast any other. And, you know, certainly we've discussed capital deployment, and it's important. Those are big decisions. And they are ones that if you don't get them right you have a painful financial outcome. But usually, they are ones that you can maneuver and recover from. Not having the talent you need to fuel the business, which often is related to the culture that you've created in the company, and whether you can attract and retain, or picking the right leaders for the right moment. Those decisions are ones that I believe have some of the longest tails and highest consequences. So, we spend a lot of time thinking about the talent needs of this business and creating that really from the ground up. Thinking about the third grader and how do we get them interested in aerospace and defense. And, also, for succession purposes, thinking about somebody who's been with the company two years, and do they have the potential to be me one day? I mean, these are things that you have to be really intentional about and create systems that allow you to have the best and the brightest to meet the moment.

Eric Veiel

That's so, so profound that you've said that. Many of the folks that I've sat down and had this conversation with them said something very similar, those talent decisions are just absolutely critical. The stress of your job is, is really profound when you think about it. What, what, do you do to try to relax and relieve some of that?

Kathy Warden

For me, it's always been about family time. I have enjoyed spending time watching my kids grow, experiencing life with them, and we do a lot of fun things together. We cook together, we have sporting events together, and it's really one of those things that I look back on and say, I would not have given that up for my career. There are so many sacrifices I've made, but the one I wouldn't make is being able to still be a part of life with my family. So that's what I've prioritized above anything else. Not so much anything of, of my own hobby and interest, but what we could do together as a family.

Eric Veiel

That's great. Okay, Kathy, we're going to, we're going to bring this home with a segment that we've just started recently where we do some rapid-fire questions, kind of one, two-word answers, first thing or sentence, first thing that comes to your mind. Okay. The coolest experience you've had as being the CEO of Northrop Grumman?

Kathy Warden

The B-21 roll out, it has to be the coolest experience I had.

Eric Veiel

One word to describe the environment you're operating in right now.

Kathy Warden

Dynamic.

Eric Veiel

What's the most underrated trait of a great leader?

Kathy Warden

Authenticity.

Eric Veiel

What is your favorite book or your book that you're reading now that's having a big impact?

Kathy Warden

I'm reading the Culture Code.

Eric Veiel

Okay, for our friends in Harrisonburg. The best lesson you took from your time at JMU?

Kathy Warden

The power of people.

Eric Veiel

Thank you very much Kathy. This has been really fun, and really appreciate your time.

Kathy Warden

Thanks, Eric. It's been great to speak with you today.

Eric Veiel

Thank you. Again. I'm Eric Veiel. Thank you for listening to The Angle. We look forward to your company on future episodes. You can find more information about this and other topics on our website. Please rate and subscribe wherever you get your podcasts. The Angle. Better questions, better insights. Only from T Rowe Price.

DISCLOSURE

This podcast episode was recorded in April of 2026 and is for general information and educational purposes only. Outside of the United States it is for investment professional use only. It is not intended to be used by persons in jurisdictions which prohibit or restrict distribution of the material herein.

This podcast does not give advice or recommendations of any nature; or constitute an offer or solicitation to buy or sell any security in any jurisdiction. Prospective investors should seek independent legal, financial, and tax advice before making any investment decision. Past performance is not a guarantee or a reliable indicator of future results. All investments are subject to risk, including the possible loss of principal.

Discussions relating to specific securities are informational only, and are not recommendations, and may or may not have been held in any T. Rowe Price portfolio. Any forward-looking statements are for discussion purposes only and are never guaranteed. There should be no assumption that the securities were or will be profitable. T. Rowe Price is not affiliated with, or a subsidiary of, any company discussed.

The views contained herein are those of the speakers as of the date of the recording and are subject to change without notice. These views may differ from those of other T. Rowe Price associates and/or affiliates. Information is from sources deemed reliable but not guaranteed. Please visit https://www.troweprice.com/en/uk/insights/the-long-view-northrop-grumman for full global issuer disclosures.

This podcast is copyright by T. Rowe Price, 2026.