“These are engines that would fit on your tabletop,” said Kratos exec Stacey Rock. “We don’t want hundreds of ‘em, we want thousands [of drones] to overwhelm the threat.”

Wall Street investors and Wall Street analysts, along with the Department of Justice, are pondering Disney’s massive acquisition of much of 21st Century Fox, a consolidation that may reshape the entertainment industry landscape. While defense mergers rarely involve anyone’s favorite movies and are financial dwarves compared to ones like 21st Century Fox and Disney, they remain… Keep reading →

President Donald Trump has identified a fact few of his recent predecessors have understood: the Defense Industrial Base of the United States (DIB) is a critical component of our national security. The DIB is more important than any individual weapons program – be it an aircraft carrier, long range bomber, or high-tech tank.  But for too… Keep reading →

The Department of Justice just told the Department of Defense to back off, and DoD did. It’s a rare public confrontation between two major government departments, especially over a subject as politically volatile as mergers and acquisitions, where the Pentagon had wanted more authority in a process Justice and the Federal Trade Commission currently control —… Keep reading →

WASHINGTON: The Pentagon is “weeks” away from taking a tougher line on mergers between defense contractors — but two top defense industry analysts told Breaking Defense that was a bad idea. “Their only possible response to M&A [Mergers & Acquisitions] is S&P[:] Signaling & Posturing,” said the Teal Group’s Richard Aboulafia. “As with so many… Keep reading →

WASHINGTON: Perhaps the most respected living Defense Secretary, Bill Perry, sat down with reporters today to tout a new book and give the American people a shot at one of the finer brains to have led the Pentagon. Perry is renowned for having hosted the so-called Last Supper with defense industry chiefs, which set the stage… Keep reading →

WASHINGTON: The Defense Department has told its big industry partners for most of the last 15 years that there’s no need for consolidation at the top. Lockheed Martin, Boeing, BAE Systems, Raytheon, General Dynamics and Northrop Grumman are big enough, they said. Mergers of prime contractors would limit competition, Ash Carter, Frank Kendall and other… Keep reading →

WASHINGTON: Lockheed Martin’s planned purchase of Sikorsky Aircraft, the biggest U.S. helicopter manufacturer, is a natural fit that will mean a lot more to buyer Lockheed and seller United Technologies Corp. than it will for the military rotorcraft industry, present or future. Here’s why. First, the two companies have worked together on military helicopter programs for decades.… Keep reading →

UPDATED: Insights From Steve Grundman, Former DUSD Industrial Affairs WASHINGTON: For several years, senior Pentagon officials have said they don’t expect or encourage mergers of the giant defense companies, but mergers and acquisitions of smaller entities might well make sense. The first example we saw was the merger of ATK and Orbital Sciences. Today, Harris… Keep reading →

The U.S. defense industry, being reshaped by declining post-war budgets, globalization, and the increased pace of technological change, must work with the Pentagon and take proactive steps to maintain our historic preeminence on the battlefield. Our industry does not easily embrace change. In fact, history demonstrates that shifts in the defense industry have largely been… Keep reading →