US defense and aerospace giant Lockheed Martin reported on Tuesday that its net profit increased by 22.3 percent in the second quarter as F-16 fighter jet sales boomed.

The company reported that its profit in the quarter surged to 296 million dollars from a year-earlier 242 million dollars.

Total sales also climbed by 13.8 percent to 8.78 billion dollars in the quarter.

Aeronautics revenue surged by 30.6 percent, mostly because of increase of warplane sales, particularly the F-16.

During the first six months of 2004, Lockheed earned 587 million dollars on sales of 17.12 billion dollars, comparing with a profit of 492 million dollars on sales of 14.77 billion in the same period of last year.