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Raytheon
The U.S. defense industry used to be regarded as a bastion of white male executives. It still is seen that way in some quarters, but the reality is that women are rapidly ascending into top jobs across the defense sector. Since the new year began, General Dynamics has announced its next Chairman
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Date:
7/30/2012
Wall Street loves Raytheon. The company's stock is selling at a premium to that of its rivals in the defense sector, and consensus estimates on forward earnings are rosy despite the drumbeat of bad news out of the Pentagon. Raytheon's popularity can be traced to several factors. First, its fate
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Date:
7/23/2012
With demand for weapons headed downward in the Obama Administration's proposed five-year spending plan, now would seem like a good time for defense companies to consider diversifying into commercial work. Many of them have technology skills that seem fungible beyond defense, and the outlook for
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Date:
3/12/2012
Yesterday I did an investor call with Michael Lewis of Lazard Capital Markets concerning the outlook for the defense sector as military spending priorities shift. You can read Lazard's full report on my comments
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Date:
3/2/2012
Pentagon policymakers were smart to wait two weeks before disclosing the program changes that will accompany the administration's new national security strategy. The political system needs some time to assimilate the emerging strategic framework before it hears what revised military priorities
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Date:
1/6/2012
For nearly a decade now, diversification has been the "D" word in the defense industry -- the strategy that dare not speak its name. But conditions have deteriorated so badly in military markets that companies are contemplating expansion into adjacent areas, and even further afield. It's not just
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Date:
11/8/2011
Because the focus of my research and analysis is U.S. national security, in general, and force structure and programmatic issues, in particular, I have plenty of opportunities to learn about new, innovative and even radical ideas for military capabilities. Over time it is easy to become jaundiced
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Date:
10/10/2011
This is the week that Pentagon policymakers begin sorting out how to assure that one of the military's most important reconnaissance systems will be available to warfighters at an affordable price. The RQ-4 Global Hawk is an unmanned aircraft conceived to replace the venerable U-2 spy plane with
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Date:
9/26/2011
The Obama Administration apparently has decided to name Dr. Heidi Shyu as the next Assistant Secretary of the Army for Acquisition, Logistics & Technology. That isn't so surprising since she was already the principal deputy to departing Army acquisition chief Malcolm O'Neill, but what is noteworthy
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Date:
6/8/2011
Cyberwarfare is one of the few areas of national-security spending likely to grow in coming years. Not surprisingly, every major military contractor in the U.S. is trying to crowd into the field, with companies like BAE Systems and Raytheon aggressively buying up smaller players. However, the cyberwarfare
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Date:
5/10/2011
With Osama bin Laden now gone to his reward -- probably not the place where 72 virgins await him -- defense contractors must confront the possibility of a major downturn in military demand over the coming years. The Obama Administration has already canceled four of the top twelve weapons programs
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Date:
5/3/2011
In the years since the Cold War ended, the number of system integrators in many segments of the defense industry has declined significantly. A dozen missile producers became four, six naval shipbuilders became two, and the ranks of military aircraft manufacturers were reduced by half. However,
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Date:
4/12/2011
Consider the challenge faced by ITT Defense as it prepares to become independent from the conglomerate that currently owns it. Anywhere else in the world, ITT would be a national gem -- the most accomplished player in military electronics and related fields within several time zones. But in the
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Date:
3/18/2011
Date:
3/14/2011
I argued in a posting here last Friday that recent overseas surprises are likely to shift the vector of demand for defense goods. My reasoning was that unrest in the Middle East will make it harder to sell weapons there, but China's military buildup will force policymakers in Washington to pour
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Date:
2/8/2011
The big story for the defense industry in the January 6 budget cuts proposed by defense secretary Robert Gates was what didn't happen: after reducing future weapons outlays by $330 billion in previous rounds of budget cutting, this time Gates cut almost nothing. The headline story was termination
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Date:
1/7/2011
The Army's effort to trim its modernization portfolio is starting to produce a lot of casualties outside its ranks. Earlier this year the Army decided to kill its "non-line-of-sight" launch system even though development of the program was 90 percent complete, leaving the Navy to go it alone on what
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Date:
9/30/2010
It's a good thing that Raytheon's overseas sales are growing fast, because business conditions in its home market look less than rosy. A case in point is the company's recent victory in its competition with Alliant Techsystems to build the most accurate artillery shell in the world. Raytheon won
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Date:
9/13/2010
You don't need a defense expert to tell you that domestic demand for military goods and services is likely to weaken in the years ahead. The war in Iraq is ending, the federal government is running a daily budget deficit of $4 billion, and the Obama Administration has an ambitious domestic agenda.
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Date:
5/14/2010