Lockheed Martin, the world’s largest defence company, on Tuesday forecast lower than expected earnings for next year due to higher pension costs in the wake of the recent stock market turmoil.

Shares in the company, the first major defence ­contractor to report third-quarter earnings, dropped 7.4 per cent to $86.29 in morning trading in New York after it predicted that earnings for 2009 would be between $7.65 and $7.90 per share, well below analysts’ consensus of $8.40 a share.