Castle may have been overthinking Northrop's sudden eagerness to meet him in New York. While it was true that the company's board had revealed their mercenary capitalist tendencies during the Christmas incident, this time their urgency wasn't driven by the dark motivations Castle had imagined.
They weren't planning anything as drastic as what DuPont had done to its competitors back in the day—blowing up factories along with their owners. Such blatant actions would be unthinkable in today's world, especially given Castle's close ties to the newly elected President Benjamin Arthur.
If Castle had shown any interest in politics, he could easily have secured a cushy position in the administration. After all, he'd been instrumental in funding the president's campaign. Even without a specific position, Castle's influence was undeniable, and no company in its right mind would risk antagonizing him to such an extreme degree.
So, why was Northrop so desperate for a meeting?
The answer was surprisingly straightforward: Castle had leaked information about his revolutionary optical cloaking technology to a key figure at Lockheed Martin, one of Northrop's fiercest rivals.
The chain of events leading to this crisis had begun the previous year. Castle had taken his young assistant, Kevin, to Whiteman Air Force Base in Missouri to oversee a major upgrade for the 509th Bomb Wing's fleet of B-2 Spirit stealth bombers.
The upgrades involved replacing the outdated flight control system with Castle's newly developed semi-intelligent flight control software. Additionally, Castle had designed a next-generation non-afterburning turbofan engine, which significantly improved the B-2's performance.
Within months, Northrop and General Electric (the engine supplier) had completed upgrades on three B-2 bombers using the standards and parameters Castle had set during his hands-on involvement with the first prototype.
But just as Northrop was gearing up to retrofit the rest of the B-2 fleet, Castle had casually shared a hint of his optical cloaking technology with a senior executive at Lockheed Martin. This executive, eager to seize any competitive advantage, had wasted no time sharing the information with the U.S. military.
The timing was deliberate. Despite Northrop being the original manufacturer of the B-2, Lockheed Martin saw an opportunity to swoop in and steal the lucrative upgrade contract.
When the military learned that Lockheed was working on a technology capable of rendering aircraft visually invisible, they were intrigued. Once they confirmed that this wasn't a baseless claim but an actual project in development, they temporarily halted Northrop's ongoing upgrade program.
The message to Northrop was clear: The military didn't care which company handled the upgrades—they just wanted the best technology available. If Lockheed could deliver a working prototype of their optical cloaking system, Northrop's upgrade program would be in jeopardy.
For decades, the B-2 Spirit had relied on its radar stealth capabilities to avoid detection. Its ability to slip undetected past enemy radar systems had made it one of the most valuable assets in the U.S. Air Force's arsenal.
Castle's recent upgrades had further enhanced the B-2's survivability by adding self-defense missile launchers and improving engine performance. But a system that could make the B-2 visually invisible? That would take the bomber's stealth capabilities to an entirely new level.
According to Lockheed's proposal, their optical cloaking technology was still in its early stages—what they called a "first-generation" system. For now, it could only be installed on subsonic aircraft with large fuselages, such as bombers or transport planes.
The B-2, with its enormous wingspan and large surface area, was the perfect candidate for this technology.
Although Lockheed admitted that their system was still under development and would require more time before it could be deployed, the military's interest was piqued. The potential to make the B-2 not just radar-stealthy but visually invisible was too enticing to ignore.
The Strategic Bombing Command and the Air Force immediately decided to pause Northrop's upgrades on the remaining B-2s, pending the outcome of Lockheed's optical cloaking trials.
For Northrop, this was nothing short of a disaster.
The company had been counting on the B-2 upgrade program as a major source of revenue. Losing this contract to Lockheed Martin would be a massive blow, especially after they had already invested significant resources into the project.
When Northrop investigated how Lockheed had managed to secure such a game-changing technology, they were stunned to discover that the optical cloaking system was the brainchild of their own largest private shareholder: Richard Castle.
Why, they wondered, had Castle not offered this groundbreaking technology to Northrop? Why had he chosen to collaborate with their greatest rival instead?
The answer was obvious to the board members: their short-sighted decision to side with the Japanese during the Christmas incident had irreparably damaged their relationship with Castle.
Northrop's directors were now faced with the consequences of their greed. Back when Japan had dangled a lucrative defense contract in front of them, they had eagerly taken the bait. They hadn't thought twice about throwing Castle under the bus to secure the deal.
But they hadn't anticipated that Castle would retaliate in such a devastating way. By partnering with Lockheed Martin, Castle had handed their competitor a golden opportunity to outshine Northrop in the race to upgrade the B-2 fleet.
Now, the military's suspension of Northrop's program made it painfully clear: if Lockheed's optical cloaking technology proved viable, the Air Force would have no reason to continue working with Northrop.
Northrop's board was in a state of panic.
On the one hand, they desperately wanted to reconcile with Castle. But on the other hand, Castle's actions made it clear that he was deeply dissatisfied with how the company had treated him.
The situation was further complicated by the fact that Lockheed Martin had excellent ties to the military, especially the Air Force. With such strong connections, Lockheed had no trouble alerting the military about their technological breakthrough, putting Northrop at an immediate disadvantage.
For Northrop, the stakes couldn't be higher. Losing the B-2 upgrade contract to Lockheed would be a catastrophic blow, not only financially but also in terms of prestige.
To make matters worse, the Air Force's interest in Lockheed's optical cloaking technology signaled a broader shift in priorities. If Northrop couldn't match Lockheed's innovations, they risked losing their status as a leading defense contractor.
The board knew they had no choice but to act quickly. They needed to repair their relationship with Castle before it was too late.
As Castle contemplated Northrop's sudden outreach, he couldn't help but feel a twinge of satisfaction. The very company that had dismissed him so easily during the Christmas incident was now scrambling to win back his favor.
But Castle wasn't naïve. He knew that Northrop's overtures weren't driven by genuine remorse—they were motivated by desperation.
For now, Castle decided to hear them out. He wanted to see just how far they were willing to go to fix the damage they had caused.
But one thing was certain: the balance of power had shifted. Castle was no longer just a shareholder or a consultant—he was a game-changer, and both Northrop and Lockheed Martin knew it.
Let the games begin.
(End of Chapter)
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