WASHINGTON: “I’m optimistic,” said the new president of the powerful Aerospace Industries Association, David Melcher, looking ahead to 2016. That statement in itself is a departure from the often dire warnings of his predecessor, long-time AIA president (and former Breaking Defense contributor) Marion Blakey. “Who would have thought four months ago that Ex-Im bank would be reauthorized?”…
By Sydney J. Freedberg Jr.A major overhaul is coming in software for missile warning
Space Systems Command’s FORGE program is the first, major missile-warning software modernization effort in 20 years.
WASHINGTON: The Aerospace Industries Association is routinely ranked among the top influence shops in this town. Its leader plays an important role in ensuring AIA speaks and acts with a clear and guided voice. The association’s leader for the last seven years, former FAA administrator, Marion Blakey, is leaving and the association’s large companies, who dominate…
By Colin Clark
WASHINGTON: Marion Blakey stepped up her three-year campaign against sequestration by challenging Congress more directly than ever in her annual address. Last year, the head of the Aerospace Industries Association called on legislators to “step up.” This year, she suggested that if they don’t, “fed up” voters may force them to step down. “Look at the…
By Sydney J. Freedberg Jr.
WASHINGTON: The administration has spent the last 48 hours insisting they would not in good conscience submit a Pentagon budget that kept under current spending caps, that national security simply needs more money. This afternoon, the top Democrat on the House Armed Services Committee, Rep. Adam Smith, said more money almost certainly isn’t coming. (Note:…
By Sydney J. Freedberg Jr. Just hours before the Senate is set to vote on the last-ditch budget deal, the head of the powerful Aerospace Industries Association complimented Congress for coming to its senses – but, said Marion Blakey, this had better be just the beginning. “I personally do not believe the American public likes to have the wool pulled…
By Sydney J. Freedberg Jr. When members of Congress return from their August recess, their plates will be very full. Our legislators need to fund the government for the next fiscal year, which starts October first. Although it may seem like a simple task to keep the government operating, a potential partisan collision over raising the debt ceiling once again…
By Marion Blakey
Modernizing military simulation with open systems architecture
Best-of-breed common models and architecture enable virtual training and testing with the same data in a cyber-resilient posture.
WASHINGTON: Apparently realizing that its year-long campaign to stop the automatic budget cuts known as sequestration by focusing on the severe impact on national security has not been effective, the Aerospace Industries Association tried to broaden its appeal Monday by joining with a coalition of non-defense organizations and trying to shift the focus to “entitlements.”…
By Otto KreisherWASHINGTON: While anxiety over sequestration dominated yesterday’s annual meeting dominated of the Aerospace Industries Association, its member companies actually did pretty well in 2012. Civil aircraft sales, up 14 percent since 2011, and arms exports, up 12 percent, grew faster than Pentagon spending declined, which was just 3.4 percent. Overall, aerospace and defense profits are…
By Sydney J. Freedberg Jr.WASHINGTON: Sequestration, sequestration, sequestration — that was the one note the Aerospace Industries Association struck over and over at its biggest annual public event. Flanked by AIA’s now-iconic clock counting down 27 days before the sequester destroys “two million jobs” (a disputed figure), President Marion Blakey declared: “I’m an optimist and we have to prevail.”…
By Sydney J. Freedberg Jr.WASHINGTON: As jetlagged aerospace executives and defense reporters head home from a frankly discouraging Farnborough Air Show, Washington is gearing up for storm of stop-sequestration events this coming week. What it will actually accomplish is an open question. Sequestration has hardly been a quiet topic this past week, with a pointed, partisan, and unproductive exchange…
By Sydney J. Freedberg Jr.Marion Blakey, president of the Aerospace Industries Association The Obama administration has assured the American public that any cuts to defense spending would be part of a reasonably balanced package of reductions, would help reduce record budget deficits, and will be “reversible” if future contingencies require it. Now that the Pentagon has released the president’s…
By Marion BlakeyWith the Supercommittee’s wreckage still smoldering in Congress, the prospect of an additional half trillion dollars in cuts to our national defense budget isn’t hypothetical anymore. For an overstretched military needing to reset after a decade of war and the 13 million Americans already looking for work, it’s a disaster. But amazingly, even as expert…
By Marion BlakeyThe stench of elitism is permeating Washington, just as it did a decade ago when everyone of consequence bought the proposition that Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction – and even if there was room for doubt, he was a threat and “had to go.” Today, the subject matter is different, but the methods…
By Winslow Wheeler
Marion C. Blakey, a member of the Breaking Defense Board of Contributors, is president and CEO of the Aerospace Industries Association. The U.S. aerospace and defense industry will be out in full force at this year’s Farnborough International Air Show (July 14-20), demonstrating the aircraft and equipment that is helping our nation and our allies…
By Marion Blakey