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 mixed week on concerns the Federal Reserve might not cut interest rates as expected in December; the end of the US government shutdown ends with a continuing resolution through January that included included funding to develop Boeing’s E-7 for the Air Force over the Pentagon’s objections; President Trump’s decision to back away from the food tariffs he imposed that have sent prices for soaring as his administration finalized trade deals including with Switzerland; the US drive for NATO adoption of the E-7 as an E-3 AWACS replacement collapses as Britain decides against renewing its lease for three RC-135 Rivet Joint aircraft as London eyes Hensoldt’s Pegasus; Columbia’s decision to buy Gripen jets from Saab for $3.6 billion; Army Secretary Dan Driscoll’s statement that defense contractors saying they “conned the American people and the Pentagon” and says that he wants to buy 90 percent from commercial vendors and 10 percent “in the worst of cases” from specialist firms; the increasingly acrimonious squabble between Dassault and Airbus over leadership of the Franco-German next-generation SCAF family of air systems; the decision by Boeing machinists in St Louis to end the company’s second longest strike; the concern by US intelligence officials that F-35 Lighting II fighter technology might leak to China if Washington sells the Lockheed Martin jets to Saudi Arabia; themes for this year’s Dubai Air Show; BAE Systems and Rolls-Royce’s market statements and Hensoldt’s capital markets day.
