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The article focuses on defense spending and defense contracts. Particular attention is given to the defense contracts that were established for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan in the early 21st century. Approximately 240,000 contractor employees support U.S. missions by providing security, military and police training, etc. Also discussed is the feud between executives Robert McKeon and Thomas Campbell in regard to DynCorp International, a service provider to the U.S. military. INSET: BLACKWATER DOWN.

Focuses on United Technologies Corp.'s CEO George David. The amount of his pay package; His association with Yuzuru Ito; His interest in history, management, and innovation; His accomplishments during a decade's tenure; Financial data showing the growth and initiative at UTC; Cost and purpose of his Employee Scholar Program; Units in the industrial conglomerate that make UTC strong; Rating of United Technologies' units, including Otis Elevator Co., Flight Systems, and Chubb, against the competition; The challenges David faces in the second decade of his leadership; Indication that he will look for acquisitions and divestitures as a means to UTC growth; The reason he sold UT Automotive to Lear Corp. in 1999; Success of the Hamilton Sundstrand unit; David's focus on quality; Number of plant closings and lost jobs; Problems at UTC's aerospace companies; Idea that David will drop some commercial business to gain defense contracts; His management strategy and quality-improvement techniques; His family background, education, and career highlights. INSETS: HEAVY METAL;THE UTC WAY;GEORGE DAVID.

A $200 billion market has appeared on your business horizon, but you may not have noticed it. It's the U.S. military--the new U.S. military. Virtually all aspects of the military are changing to ensure it can fight unpredictable threats while sustaining the infrastructure needed to support and train forces. The military is turning to non-traditional business partners to meet a wide range of needs, from health care to housing to information technology. The Defense Department is yielding its monopoly on every aspect of national security and adopting a more businesslike model in which the military's warfighting capabilities are supported through outsourcing and business alliances. Civilians are replacing military personnel in many noncombat roles. Military functions with corporate equivalents are candidates for outsourcing and privatization. Market standards are replacing the heavy customization that has locked many companies out of this marketplace. The authors have participated in the transformation process from different perspectives-one civilian, the other military. Together, they highlight the prospects that transformation is creating for companies outside the traditional defense industry and reveal paths to success in this complex market. They also present six principles for doing business with the military that require persistence, integrity, and a willingness to master the intricacies of a distinctive culture. By understanding the logic of military transformation, executives can identify and create vast new business opportunities. And by mastering the six principles, they can build profitable long-term relationships. INSETS: Contractors and Iraq;The Rewards of Military Business;A Note on the Research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Discusses the role of private military companies in providing essential military support services to U.S. military personnel stationed in other countries such as Iraq in 2003. Increased dependence on private military companies due to the reduction of the armed forces; Pros and cons of depending of private military companies; Implications for military operations and the defense industries. INSET: THE CORPORATE MILITARY.

The article focuses the increasing demand for the P-8 Poseidon maritime patrol reconnaissance aircraft (MPRA) among international defense customers. It is noted that the Poseidon is not an inexpensive aircraft and the MPRA built by aerospace firm Boeing is dominating a limited market and only Japan has offered a modern competitor to the P-8. It mentions that Boeing had delivered eight P-8As to the Royal Australian Air Force and 81 to the U.S. Navy.

With the sluggishness of a giant supertanker turning in midocean, the U.S. military establishment is slowly changing its strategic course. Well before arms-control issues were debated at last week's summit, it began shifting from a cold war heading fixed on Moscow to a post-cold war bearing aimed at the Third World. Many Pentagon officials are still resisting the change; nevertheless, America's war machine of the 1990s will face south, across the Rio Orande, the Caribbean and the Mediterranean, rather than east, across the plains of Europe. This new orientation will entail revolutionary changes in the organization, strategic outlook and deployment modes of the armed forces. Whereas existing strategy emphasizes heavy armored divisions configured for a static, defensive war in Europe, the emerging post-cold war strategy stresses light and medium forces prepared for rapid insertion into Third World areas.

The debate raging in Washington and in corporate suites over post-Cold War defense is based on flawed assumptions about the coming cuts to the U.S. defense budget. By the late 1990s, defense spending will drop $80 billion from its present level due to cuts that will be deeper and longer than any in U.S. history--deeper and longer than anyone in Washington or industry wants to admit. There have been downturns in the past, but, as Terrold Lundquist argues, this is not just another dip in the cycle. As the Cold War ends and demand from Uncle Sam dwindles, the defense industry faces its most profound shift since the end of World War II. Boom-bust patterns have always driven the industry. But today, in addition to a cyclical drop in procurement, defense contractors are reeling from reforms of the past decade that shaved contractors' profits and greatly increased the risk of bidding on new programs. Furthermore, nearly every contractor has a crippling excess of production and engineering capacity. The conventional strategies of commercialization, globalization, and diversification helped contractors survive the downturns after World War II, Korea, and Vietnam. But they won't work this time. Defense contractors can no longer seek to grow faster than their industry is growing. Instead, they must shrink faster than their industry is shrinking. Moreover, they must shrink smart to capture the large market that will remain for those who survive the shake-out. Shrinking smart means investing only in businesses where the company can be preeminent and stripping down, shutting down, selling, or spinning off everything else. Defense contractors, as well as companies in other struggling markets, must either shrink smart or shrink out of existence. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Rocket Lab has secured a $515 million contract with the Pentagon to build 18 data-transport satellites for the Space Development Agency's Proliferated Warfighter Space Architecture. This contract establishes Rocket Lab as a leading satellite prime contractor and will provide supply chain diversity to the Department of Defense and commercial constellations. The satellites will be built in Long Beach, California, and Rocket Lab plans to continue competing for other opportunities with the Space Development Agency. Additionally, Rocket Lab is expanding in the space launch market with its Electron vehicle and the development of a reusable medium-lift rocket called Neutron. [Extracted from the article]

The article reports that war production board (WPD) has decided to limit the inventories of bigger merchants and manufacturers of war supplies in the U.S. in 1942. It mentions that the agency will no longer confiscate any existing accumulations in warehouse of bigger merchants. It notes that the action is made for the fairness among merchants in defense industry.

The article offers information on the production of war goods in the U.S. It states that the war requirements cannot be sufficed by the production of war good by few companies, but require several plants to combine in the production. It mentions that many companies hesitate to produce military goods and fail to meet upto the defense contracts.

The article offers procurement information that can help small American businesses bid on government contracts in the United States. The Central Military Procurement Information Office is located in the Pentagon and gives information about which government agency buys what product. The Munitions Board Small Business Office deals with bid or contract complaints. Bid synopses can be obtained from the U.S. Department of Commerce or local Chamber of Commerce where they are released daily. Topics include definition of a small business in the Selective Service Act of 1948, resolution of product specification and cataloguing problems, "tie low bid policy" of the Department of Defense and General Services Administration, and procurement by negotiation.

The article discusses the significance of subcontracting in accelerating the output of vital war materials and preventing serious unemployment and the destruction of small business. With the widespread dissatisfaction over inadequate armament production and the rising demands from all sides for governmental measures to alleviate distress caused by the defense effort, many defense officials believe that the solution to their problem is more subcontracting. Critics have noted that most of the subcontracting work goes to a small number of large companies. However, studies show that these companies outsource much of their work to other companies, creating a ripple effect. The author also outlines several benefits and problems associated with subcontracting.

The article focuses on the marketing performance of military market in the U.S. It says that the retail system in military market recorded 3.4 billion dollars in sales through commissaries, ship stores, and service outlets. It states that the rise of the market poses a stiff competition among companies such as Procter & Gamble Co. and BVD Co. and that military imitates civilian chains. It mentions that Wilson Harrell & Co.'s Formula 409 liquid cleaner has increased its civilian demand.

During the first year of the defense program it has been widely assumed that the U.S., unlike Germany, could have both guns and butter, that no essential sacrifice would be required. All one had to do some argued, was to put our nine or ten million unemployed to work in the armament industries. One would then have the greatest armament industry in the world without any interference with the production of goods for everyday living. They completely disregarded the fact' that the unemployed were mostly unskilled, and that one lacked tools and equipment for the defense industries. As a matter of fact, one did expand one's production of consumers' goods during the period in which our armament program was in low gear.

The article focuses on the implications of abolition of military expenditures for particular trades, industries and geographical regions in the U.S. The transfer of purchasing power from the military back to the taxpayer is unlikely to leave the total demand for gross national product unchanged. The defense establishment exploits its purchasing power to the utmost. A dollar of tax receipts by the federal government is turned, with unseemly haste, into a dollar of demand for current production. Finding his tax liability reduced by a dollar, the individual is likely to exploit only part of his increased purchasing power in demanding current production.

Confronted with severe financial difficulties in current programs, mounting public criticism, multiple Congressional investigations, and a cutback in new development programs, the defense industry is experiencing very hard times. Here the author traces these troubles to changes in the defense market environment that have occurred during the past few years, and to the management procedures of the contractors themselves. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

After World War II, the United States assumed the burden of leading the defense of the Free World. Today, although many of our allies are exceedingly prosperous and are technically competent to help in the work of defense, we seem to be most reluctant to part with the notion that "it's all up to us." This habit of thought is an expensive one--as a glance at the defense budget will demonstrate. Also, it may stand in the way of progress and advance both for ourselves and for our allies. In this article, the author argues that we should share the burden of defending the Free World with our allies through the formation of international consortia of industrial companies to design and produce certain widely used defense systems. He points out the fact that this policy has brought us many advantages whenever it has been applied in the past, and he describes the additional advantages it can bring us in the future. He also makes specific suggestions for managing the assignment of contracts to such consortia, a problem that has formerly given a lot of difficulty. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article analyzes the prospects of the reinforced plastics industry in the U.S. As stated, the plastics have an enormous potential application in military equipment, and it is expected that the plastics will be able to compete with iron under the triple test of cost, strength and weight. However, as reported, the industry face obstacles which includes the fact that, not enough is known about the potentials of the plastics, so the U.S. Armed Forces can't place big orders for the plastics.

The article focuses on the growing competition in the U.S. hydrocarbon engines market as the U.S. Air Force and Congress agree to stop launching U.S. national security spacecraft with Russia's RD-180 rocket engine. Topics covered include a version of the SpaceX Merlin 1D, which powers the Falcon 9, the development by United Launch Alliance (ULA) of three engines fueled with liquid hydrogen and the decision of Orbital ATK to use the BE-3 reusable engine to power its New Shepard space vehicle.

The article focuses on the competition by U.S. launch-services rivals for the government launch market as lawmakers and general agree to stop launching U.S. national security spacecraft with Russia's RD-180 rocket engine. Topics covered include the plan of ULA to build a family of launchers dubbed Vulcan, the proposal by Aerojet Rocketdyne to power the Vulcan with rocket-grade kerosene as fuel, and the suggestion by Orbital ATKof hybrid launcher with a solid-fuel.

The article reports on the international defense and security fair FEINDEF 2023, which will take place in Madrid from May 17th to 19th. More than 300 companies have reserved space, representing 85% of the available space. The participation of around 400 exhibitors from 25 countries and over 100 international delegations is expected. The FEINDEF Foundation will present Innova for Defense and Security at the FEINDEF 23 fair, supported by the Ministry of Defense. In addition, Indra has modernized two transportable secondary radars for the Brazilian Air Force and the Brazilian Navy has sunk its retired aircraft carrier, the Sao Paulo, in Brazilian waters. [Extracted from the article]