American defense contracting titan Lockheed Martin has apparently made plenty of enemies.

On Saturday, Lockheed released a statement confirming a signifant and tenacious cyberattack on its central computer network.

Now, a former terrorist who has become a key witness in a trial unfolding in Chicago said that a Pakistani branch of Al Qaeda was planning to kill the CEO of Lockheed for the damage wrought by his company's war machines.

[Al Qaeda leader Ilyas] Kashmiri had planned to kill CEO of Lockheed Martin to stop any further drone attacks, David Headley said, referring to the unmanned aircraft that are reviled in Pakistan for killing civilians. Headley is a witness in the trial of Tawahhur Hussain Rana, who stands accused of helping to plot the November 2008 attacks on a hotel in Mumbai.

While General Atomics makes the Predator drones that are often used to launch missiles at suspected terrorists, Lockheed builds a range of missiles and fighter planes, in addition to surveillance drones.

Lockheed swiftly averted this weekend's cyberattack by taking measures like disabling remote access to computers and ordering employees to change their passwords.

Al-Qaeda Pakistan Pakistan Pakistan