Budget Cuts Squeeze Smaller Defense Firms

Small companies that make components for fighter jets and satellites are bearing the brunt of cuts in U.S. military spending with the first casualties already showing up, say top U.S. industry and government officials. 

 

Marion Blakey, president of the Aerospace Industries Association trade group, told an industry gathering last week that 88% of smaller suppliers surveyed earlier this year were feeling the effects of U.S. budget cuts.

 

More of her comments are viewable here.

 

At the same event, Frank Kendall, U.S. undersecretary of defense for acquisition, technology and logistics, said the Pentagon would have to slash its budget by about $20 billion in fiscal 2014 from a year earlier if mandatory budget cuts remain in effect. The chief arms buyer for the U.S. called that an increasingly likely scenario, with cuts falling disproportionately on the Pentagon's procurement and research and development accounts.

 

To read more of his comments, click here.