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Defense Industrialist

May 30, 2014

DARPA’s Crusade on Costs

By James Hasik

If the alternative is another round of acquisition reform, let’s bet on technology. Just after our recent Disrupting Defense conference, in an interview with Marcus Weisgerber of Defense News, DARPA Director Arati Prabhakar argued that the “High Cost of Weapons Threatens Security” (17 May). Her organization wants to be part of the solution, funding potentially “powerful new approaches” in armament, sensor, […]

Missile Defense Security & Defense

Defense Industrialist

May 28, 2014

Buying Out a Ship Contract, or a Whole Shipyard?

By James Hasik

The French sale of helicopter carriers to Russia shows just how hard industrial rationalization in Europe really is. Back in March, I argued (“Did NATO rearm Russia?”) that arms sales to Moscow had been been more embarrassing than alarming, but that the occupation of Crimea meant that it was really time to stop. Most egregious, I still […]

France Russia

Defense Industrialist

May 22, 2014

“I want drones!”

By James Hasik

Allies and adversaries will get them, whether the US exports them or not. Congressman Gregory Meeks (D-NY) had a strong reaction this week to the story of Deborah Peter, a young woman visiting the Congress, about the murder of her family by Boko Haram: I want drones, I want something, because they don’t belong on this earth.The congressman from […]

Drones Technology & Innovation

Defense Industrialist

May 19, 2014

DARPA versus the Congress

By James Hasik

New payloads for old platforms may be the best we can hope for. At our Disrupting Defense conference last week, DARPA Director Arati Prabakhar expressed some surprise that Pentagon officials have been asking her for radical ways out of their budgetary predicament:      Usually budget pressure translates to incrementalism for R&D because people say ‘what have you done […]

Defense Industrialist

May 13, 2014

Are Robotics Disruptive?

By James Hasik

Ascertaining who will benefit most from unmanned technologies. Are robotics a disruptive military technology? Popular conception holds that to be obvious, but a team from RAND argues otherwise. In their new study “Armed and Dangerous? UAVs and US Security”, they observe that robotic aircraft cannot today defend themselves, but less permissive scenarios are now of […]

Captains of Industry Series

May 8, 2014

Enders’ Game

By James Hasik

Transnational Armaments Development Without the Horror Last week, Airbus CEO Tom Enders spoke in our Captains of Industry series on “The State of European Defense”. Russian misbehavior to the east notwithstanding, it’s a challenging market. Particularly challenging has been trying to manage multinational development projects like those of the NH90 helicopter and the A400M airlifter. After the experience […]

Defense Industrialist

May 1, 2014

Orbital Plus ATK Means Focus for Innovation

By James Hasik

Cost savings and consolidation can’t explain investors’ enthusiasm. Investors love the pending merger between Alliant Techsystems (ATK) and Orbital Sciences (ORB). In overnight trading after Monday’s announcement, NYSE:ATK increased 5 percent, and ORB increased fully 19 percent. Together, that’s an expectation that this tie-up is worth over half a billion dollars to the combined owners. Whence that value is flowing […]

Defense Industrialist

Apr 30, 2014

Cooperative or Competitive?

By James Hasik

Lessons on restructuring the defense industry from the Virginia submarine program The price of American submarines is coming down. As announced early this week, the US Navy has signed a contract with General Dynamics Electric Boat (GDEB) and Huntington Ingalls Industries (HII) to deliver, from now through 2023,  ten Block IV Virginia-class submarines for $17.6 billion. What’s remarkable […]

20140425 F35

Defense Industrialist

Apr 25, 2014

Is the F-35 the Industrial Base?

By James Hasik

Consuming 40 percent of the Pentagon’s future spending plans, the JSF may come to dominate defense planning Earlier this week, Australian Prime Minster Tony Abbot announced that the Royal Australian Air Force’s order for F-35A Lightning IIs was now up to a full wing of 72 aircraft. The bad news is that each aircraft, even deducting for […]

United States and Canada

Defense Industrialist

Apr 22, 2014

A Defense Industry for the Age of Austerity

By Steve Grundman

Three years into an “age of austerity” in Western military spending, expectations are building for a new wave of mergers and acquisitions (M&A) in the defense industry like the one that followed the Cold War. Just as before, change is resetting customers’ expectations, investors’ outlooks and corporate strategies.

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