Budget Delivers a Merry Christmas to Contractors
Morning Coffee is a robust blend of links to news around the internet concerning the Naval Air Station Patuxent River economic community. The opinions expressed here do not necessarily reflect those of the Leader’s owners or staff.
The bi-partisan budget bill passed last week by the Senate and now on its way to anticipated approval by President Barack Obama is the best Christmas present defense contractors could have wished for, reports Daily Finance, and that promises to ring in a Happy New Year for investors.
The Journal Gazette says the good economic news is the strongest for airlines and weapon makers including Boeing, General Dynamics, Raytheon, Northrop Grumman and Lockheed Martin; in part because these companies trimmed workforce to increase profitability in tighter budget times.
Cuts to military compensation have historically been deal breakers, but they weren’t in the bi-partisan budget bill. DefCon Hill reports that whether retired military associations prevail in overturning a pivotal compensation benefit cut for military retirees younger than 62 could set the standard for the budget years ahead.
The Pentagon, beginning with four budgets, has honed their 2015 budget request below the budget now nearing final approval, reports Defense News. Gen. Martin Dempsey, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, announced last week that DoD would use $30 billion of the restored funds to ” buy back” readiness shortfalls and critical modernization programs.
DoD is wrapping up the last week of 2013 with billions of dollars of defense contracts awarded, says The Motley Fool, reporting last Thursday DoD issued $1.8 billion in awards. On Friday another $2.2 billion were awarded and reported on Defense.gov.
A recent Rand Corp. report says the single-platform JSF will not save the money DoD anticipated by developing a common base with different versions for each service, reports Bloomberg. South Korea won’t be finalizing its purchase of 40 F-35s until next summer, reports Reuters.
Following successful landings of the X-47 this summer, Northrop Grumman is now unveiling a super-stealth drone for the US Air Force, reports CNN Money’s Tech Fortune. Aviation Week reported earlier this year testing of the unmanned spy hardware by the Air Force and said it would be fielded in significant numbers as soon as 2015.
The Navy closed last week defending itself regarding the bribery scandal involving Asian ports, reports DefenseOne. The investigation will disclose other officers involved, said Navy Secretary Ray Mabus, but he also pointed out that despite the few bad apples, it was Navy personnel who brought the matter to light and who conducted the successful investigation to end it.
