Lockheed Martin, which was also the top contractor in 2004, edged out Boeing, which had 18.3 billion dollars in Defense Department contracts last year, and Northrop Grumman, with 13.5 billion.

Other top 10 contractors inclued General Dynamics (10.6 billion), Raytheon (9.1 billion), Halliburton (5.8 billion), British-based BAE Systems (5.6 billion), United Technologies (5.0 billion), L-3 Communications (4.7 billion) and Computer Sciences Corp. (2.8 billion).

The Pentagon said contracts awarded in 2005 totated 269.2 billion dollars, an increase of 38.5 billion from 2004.

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