A single dominant customer, cost-plus contracting and programme-level concentration; returns depend on procurement politics.
Inside Lockheed's secret projects unit, from the U-2 to the stealth fighter.
Recommended by: Patrick Collison, Sam Altman
Classic on the bet-the-company economics of airliner programs.
Fifty-two laws of management and defence spending, each backed by data.
The definitive account of John Boyd and the OODA loop. Boyd's contribution was to show that strategy is fundamentally about time and adaptation: the side that observes, orients, decides, and acts faster keeps the opponent reacting rather than acting. His ideas crossed into business, software, and lean manufacturing.
Recommended by: Morgan Housel, Patrick O'Shaughnessy and 2 others
From a Dayton bicycle shop to the first powered flights and the 1908 demonstrations.
Recommended by: Ali Abdaal, Mohnish Pabrai, Morgan Housel and 3 others
Insider account of the Bradley programme and operational testing.
Lockheed Martin as a case study in the contractor-state relationship.
SpaceX's first six years, when it nearly failed four times before Falcon 1 flew.
Paul Grahamrecommends 1 book here
Sam Altmanrecommends 1 book here