Over the last several years the Federal government has increased the amount of money flowing to contractors. While this is especially true of the Defense Department it is also in all other parts of the Executive Branch. Cost Plus contracts have been criticized as they transfer the risk from the contractor to the Government. One of the Obama contracting reform planks has been the reduction in...
Government Industry Archive
April 2009
Israel has slowly built up a market for their rather sophisticated military equipment with the world. Recently they have been selling more goods to India for example. Now in what has to be a blow to Russian pride and industry that country has agreed to buy some UAV reconnaissance aircraft from Israel. AFP is reporting that the deal is worth about $50 million. Russia itself since the...
Now that Secretary Robert Gates has announced his plans for the next few years of defense spending it is worthwhile to review the changes to the services plans and the next possible big system contracts out there. Air Force — The Air Force lost the F-22 and the Airborne Laser (ABL) missile defense system. To make up for the end of the F-22 full rate production the F-35 Joint Strike...
Over the last several years Congress has initiated a variety of reforms to both contracting and the acquisition process for Major Defense Acquisition Programs (MDAP). While the two are not directly related they do go hand-in-hand. Some of the law and regulatory changes are due to specific program abuses like the initial tanker lease given to Boeing. Others are a reaction to the large number...
In the Nineties once the Peace Dividend kicked in and the U.S. defense budget began its slow decline there was an uptick in M&A activity in the defense industry. Venerable firms like Grumman and McDonald Douglas merged with other large companies Northrop and Boeing. Smaller companies were also gobbled up, even fairly substantial ones like Logitech and Nichols Research. Every company I...
The private student loan corporation Sallie Mae is facing losing all its business. President Obama has proposed having the government take over the business directly of making student loans rather then using companies like Sallie Mae. The budgets drafts recently passed by the House and Senate contain that provision. The Indystar.com reports that the company is looking at what it can do if...
Finmeccanica put out a press release in response to Secretary of Defense Gate’s proposal to cancel the new Presidential transport helicopter. The VH-71 is an Augusta Westland platform that is being modified by Lockheed Martin. In the press release here at Avionews the company states that since the first increment is fully funded and eight of the nine aircraft contracted for have been...
As part of there trend of looking at less traditional sources for defense equipment India has begun using Israel as a source. Israel has vibrant defense and technology industries due to their military situation. The Hindu reports that the government has agreed to have the Israeli Military Industries (IMI) build five plants for artillery projectiles. The contract is worth about $240 million....
Less then twelve hours after Secretary Gates made his proposed FY10 budget known Congress is already weighing in. Reuters says that a group of Democratic and Republican Senators have set a letter calling for the cuts in missile defense to be restored. There is also criticism of the plan for the Future Combat System (FCS) and the aviation programs. This was to be expected and there will be...
The U.S. Secretary of Defense announced the broad themes of his budget today. Mr. Gates has canceled several major programs, restructured the Army’s biggest, and proposed major changes to the DoD workforce. The proposal will end F-22 production at the current force of 187 including the four currently under production. There will also be an acceleration of the JSF with increased...
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BNET Government provides daily industry trends and global news coverage with insights for managers and executives within the world wide business of government contracting. We analyze new and interesting contract awards, government policy changes, and the trends in procurements and spending. There will also be discussions of the sector with a focus on small and innovative companies and business lines. The world's governments spend billions each year on a variety of hardware and services and the site will discuss how the money is being allocated.