WASHINGTON • Lockheed Martin dramatically lowered its sales expectations for this year and next Tuesday, saying the COVID-19 pandemic has severely hobbled the top U.S. defense contractor’s supply chain.

The pandemic has crippled many companies’ ability to send and receive the parts and supplies they need to produce a wide range of products, creating shortages, reducing inventories and hammering profits.

Lockheed’s chief financial officer said the problem worsened for them over the last two months, as the maker of the F-35 fighter jet lowered its 2021 revenue expectations by 2.5% to $67 billion and said next year’s revenue could fall to $66 billion.

Lockheed’s poor outlook, just 66 days from year-end, came after it reassessed its five-year business plan “given recent external and programmatic events,” CEO Jim Taiclet said in the earnings report that dashed hopes the arms maker could muscle its way through the pandemic.

The reassessment means “a slight reduction in revenue in 2022 and roughly flat to low-single-digit growth rates in both revenue and segment operating profit over the next few years” as Lockheed prioritizes researching next-generation weapons systems like hypersonic weapons and returning cash to shareholders,