Defense & Aerospace Report

On this week’s Defense & Aerospace Report Business Roundtable, sponsored by Bell, Dr. “Rocket” Ron Epstein of Bank of America Securities and Richard Aboulafia of the AeroDynamic advisory consultancy join host Vago Muradian to discuss a down week on Wall Street after Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent’s effort to curb rising bond yields backfired, startling investors and driving yields up; investors warn Britain’s chancellor of the exchequer, John Healey, to limit borrowing amid a bond sell off as he prepares a new budget for release Oct 28; Iran and the United States failed to formally end hostilities as more energy makes it through the Strait of Hormuz thanks to the US Navy and payments to Tehran for safe passage; trade war between Canada and the United States with 50 percent tariffs on $20 billion in lumber and dairy products from Canada as Ottawa moves to impose reciprocal tariffs on US steel, electronics, dairy, appliances, agricultural equipment, as well as pulp and paper; India’s order for another 114 Rafale fighters from Dassault Aviation and plans to replace Hawk trainers by BAE Systems and Antonov 32 transport planes; the US Air Force award to GE Aerospace and Kratos to adapt their 800-pound thrust GEK800 jet engine for Lockheed Martin’s Joint Air-to-Surface Standoff Missile; and Boeing’s contingency plans if 17,000 of the company’s engineers and technicians who belong to the Society of Professional Engineering Employees in Aerospace ‌voted to give the union the power strike absent a deal when their contract expires Oct. 6.

On this week’s Defense & Aerospace Report Washington Roundtable, Dr. Patrick Cronin of the Hudson Institute think tank, former DoD Europe chief Jim Townsend of the Center for a New American Security, and former Pentagon Comptroller Dr. Dov Zakheim of the Center for Strategic and International Studies join Defense & Aerospace Report Editor Vago Muradian to discuss implications of US debt passing $40 trillion as Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent intervened in bond markets to cut yields, backfiring by alarming markets that reacted negatively to the move; President Trump declared the Strait of Hormuz as American territory, threatening Iran with an economic “D-Day” and Oman with strikes as the UAE, a financial gateway for Tehran, also imposed sanctions; Israel and Hamas rebuffed Jared Kushner as Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu declared Turkey a threat, striking a facility in Syria where Turkish troops were based; France, Germany and the UN condemned Israel’s national security minister Itamar Ben Gvir for calling on the execution of 30 to 40 Gazans a day; Ukrainian civilian casualties mount as Moscow concludes Ukraine can no longer defend against large-scale ballistic missile barrages; another corruption scandal involving a close aide to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has opposition figures calling for elections; a suspected Russian drone is downed by a NATO fighter jet over Latvia as Moscow threatens London for supplying strike drones to Ukraine; the administration’s questionnaire asking allies to detail how nations are exhibiting loyalty to the US president and his policies; Trump’s order the Pentagon abruptly end annual military exercises with South Korea six days early to punish Seoul for not support the Iran War and saying North Korea is a nonthreatening state, which Pyongyang rebuffed with its largest missile tests in months; the impact economic warfare on Iran will have on China; and Taiwan’s defense spending increase that Washington demanded just as some in Washington debate the US pivoting away from Asia.

Planes fly on money, and nobody takes apart a budget like Todd Harrison of the American Enterprise Institute. He joins us to get into what the $1.5 trillion budget means for airpower, what programs did better, and the chances the budget will pass with anything like that amount. Along the way, we’ll talk NGAD, B-21, Collaborative Combat Aircraft, weapons production, and the always thrilling… Congressional procedures. Plus the week’s top airpower headlines. Powered by GE Aerospace!

On today’s Strategy Series program, sponsored by General Atomics Aeronautical Systems, Steve Beckey of the Oliver Wyman consultancy joints Defense & Aerospace Report Editor Vago Muradian to discuss the report he co-wrote — with his colleagues — JD Kearney, Nathan Miller, and Tim Wickham — “The Defense Ramp-Up Reality Check: A $1 Trillion Question: Can the Defense Industrial Base Scale to Meet Unprecedented Demand?”

On today’s Land Warfare program, sponsored by American Rheinmetall, Sam Bendett of the Center for Naval Analyses and Dr. Eugene Rumer, the director of the Russia and Eurasia program at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, join Defense & Aerospace Report Editor Vago Muradian to discuss the tenuous nature of the Ukraine war as both sides grapple for advantage over the front; use of autonomy, AI and unmanned ground systems; how Ukraine can defend itself from Russian ballistic missile attacks; role of North Korea in supporting Russia and the lessons Pyongyang is learning from the conflict; Vladimir Putin’s stability as the war becomes increasingly unpopular wi the Russians as Duma elections loom; and the Russian leader’s visit to the Kuril Islands last week.

On today’s Look Ahead program, sponsored by HII, Byron Callan of the independent Washington research firm Capital Alpha Partners joins Defense & Aerospace Report Editor Vago Muradian to discuss the budget impact of debt, deficits, customs duties and refunds; prospect of higher food prices as Russia destroys Ukraine’s grain stocks; US brain drain and national security; the Mecca deal and midterms; what’s next for the Iran war; low-cost weapons and deterrence; the budget impact of Deputy Secretary Steve Feinberg’s demand to accelerate weapons production; President Trump’s order that the Navy establish a fifth government shipyard, buy warships from overseas firms, and replace the electromagnetic catapults on the Ford-class aircraft carrier with steam ones; Trump’s order that the Pentagon dial back military exercises with South Korea to punish Seoul for not supporting the Iran war and claim that North Korea is a nonthreatening power; earnings takeaways; today’s announcement that Chris Kubasik was replaced with Sam Mehta as L3Harris’ CEO; and a look at the week ahead and in Washington and beyond.

On this week’s Defense & Aerospace Report Business Roundtable, sponsored by Bell, Dr. “Rocket” Ron Epstein of Bank of America Securities and Richard Aboulafia of the AeroDynamic advisory consultancy join host Vago Muradian to discuss Wall Street’s near peak despite worse than expected unemployment figures as US Treasuries hit their highest since August 2001on debt and interest rate worries; US and Iranian forces continue to target Strait of Hormuz traffic as President Trump says US forces can maintain their blockade indefinitely — adding he’s considering making the international waterway American territory — but also warns Americans to brace for higher energy prices tops $6 per gallon for premium gas; an unprecedented European heat waves have dried up key rivers to their lowest levels since 2018, impacting trade and nuclear power generation that will undermine European economic growth this year; the Pentagon awards RTX and Boeing contracts to accelerate production of shipborne Standard air defense missiles; Trump orders the Navy to open a fifth government shipyard, acquire warships built overseas and replace the electromagnetic catapults on the Ford-class nuclear powered aircraft carriers with steam ones; M1 Flight Services beats Bell and Lockheed Martin for the US Army’s Flight School Next award that is valued at up to $10 billion over the coming 26 years; COMAC’s C919 jetliner made its first international commercial flight from Mongolia to Beijing; US investigators find that the Ryanair 737 from which a passenger was nearly sucked out of a window July 10 had suffered four bird strikes over the past year; Applied Aerospace, BETA Technologies, CAE, Elbit Systems, Embraer, Rocket Lab report earnings as GPS pioneer Magellan files chapter 11; Archer Aviation said it would buy Boeing's electric aircraft firm Wisk ​Aero and two other units for a nearly 20 percent stake in the air-taxi maker; and PitchBook’s estimate that private equity firms are stuck with more than 33,000 companies they can’t sell at the valuations their investors expect.

On this week’s Defense & Aerospace Report Washington Roundtable, Dr. Patrick Cronin of the Hudson Institute think tank, former DoD Europe chief Jim Townsend of the Center for a New American Security, and former Pentagon Comptroller Dr. Dov Zakheim of the Center for Strategic and International Studies join Defense & Aerospace Report Editor Vago Muradian to discuss what’s next for the Iran war as Tehran taps a new top security leader — Mohsen Rezaee — and holds firm on its demands, striking shipping as President Trump says America can maintain and “indefinite” blockade of the Strait of Hormuz; USS Abraham Lincoln becomes emblematic of the war’s burden on the US military; more details on the Turkey-Pakistan-Saudi Arabia pact; Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu defies Trump on Gaza as his government continues to push Palestinians from the West Bank; how Europe should respond to Moscow’s increasingly kinetic moves as Germany investigates the suspected Aug 4 Russian drone attack on Leipzig’s airport; US efforts to gain control of Greenland as a US company, Greenland Energy, lands oil exploration equipment on the world’s largest island without necessary approvals; Europe’s elections as heat waves spark wildfires and dry up rivers, undermining growth; Russia uses North Korean ballistic missiles target Ukrainian civilians as well as Odesa and its grain supplies; Vladimir Putin visited Iturup on the Kuril Islands claimed by Japan and threatened to seize European ships if nations escalate efforts to combat Moscow’s sanctions-evading shadow fleet; former Chinese Premier Zhu Rongi’s legacy; Taiwan’s pledge to increase defense spending and anti-blockade drills; North Korea’s missile test; and the Trump administration touts its deterrence by denial and slams China’s tariff evasion.

The United States Air Force maintains the airborne leg of America’s nuclear triad with the B-2, and the land-based leg with Minuteman. But it also connects the triad with an elaborate and heavily secured command and control network. Former Under Secretary of Defense for Policy Ambassador Eric Edelman has a report out on that topic, and we’ll cover everything nuclear with him. And, of course, we have the week’s top headlines in airpower. Powered by GE Aerospace!

On today’s Strategy Series program, sponsored by General Atomics Aeronautical Systems, Eric Fanning, the president and CEO of the Aerospace Industries Association, joins Defense & Aerospace Report Editor Vago Muradian to discuss the US defense budget outlook as the Senate approves a continuing resolution that funds the government through Dec. 11; Deputy Defense Secretary Steve Feinberg’s Aug. 5 memo giving companies 21 days to submit plans to accelerate production of select platforms, sensors and munitions; concerns about the Pentagon’s approach to intellectual property in its bid to accelerate programs and bolster the prospects of startups; update on legislation spanning from “right to repair” to share buybacks; and takeaways from the Farnborough International Airshow.