The international scope of operations
Lockheed, Boeing, and Airbus are all in the aviation manufacturing industry. While Boeing and Airbus have popular for the manufacturer of commercial airplanes, Lockheed Martin is popular for manufacturing security and defense products. For all these companies, their operations have an international reach from suppliers to consumers. For Lockheed Martin, from the F-35 Lighting II and the C-130J aircraft to the integrated air and missile defense, commercial satellites, and cybersecurity, the firm has its operations devoted to working with customers to realize their security needs through performance-proven measures, key industrial partnerships, and an operational base that is expanded ("Lockheed Martin International," n.d.). Lockheed Martin International team has its headquarters in London in England and Washington, D.C., with corporate offices worldwide. Boeing has a global reach of customers from approximately 150 countries, employees, and operations in over 65 counties, and partnerships with more than 20,000 diverse partners and suppliers ("Global Focus," n.d.). Likewise, Airbus manufactures and delivers a range of planes to a global clientele. All these three firms have a global reach with corporate officers worldwide, but concentrating in the Americas, Europe, and Asia ("Worldwide presence," n.d.). They work with partners, especially governments, to supply commercial airplanes, defense and security equipments, and lately, space operations, mainly at the research level. They have strong relations with stakeholders, especially suppliers who are spread through all the continents.

What countries are involved?

The international operations of Lockheed Martin, Boeing, and Airbus are all spread to various countries, including United States, United Kingdom, India, Australia, Israel, United Arab Emirates, Canada, and Japan. It can be argued that these three firms have truly a global reach because each has an operation, though in varying scales, in all continents of the world, including in Latin America and Africa.

Special challenges faced by these companies in countries of operation

Because of the limited number of effective and efficient aircraft manufacturers who can manufacture large-scale and safe planes and the complexities of designing, manufacturing, and assembling...…are dependent on the political relations between the target country and the United States.

Previous successes and failures of international projects for these firms

The various success and failures of international projects for these companies are specific to each. For example, for Lockheed Martin, the F-35 Lightning II is one of the major international success projects. The Plane, which has revolutionized the war field because of its capabilities, is hailed as a major success. Notably, fighter jets and other military planes from Lockheed Martin have been very successful in the industry, e.g., the Blackbird and the C-130. Boeing has also had a successful international project, e.g., the Boeing 747 and the V-22 Osprey (Thomas, 2018). Also, Airbus has had successful international projects such as Airbus A320. However, the Boeing 737 Max is considered a failed international project mainly after the Maneuvering Characteristics Augmentation System (MCAS). This software upgrade led to two dreadful crashes in Ethiopia and off Indonesia's coast, leading to a grounding of the model globally (Gates…