On this week’s Defense & Aerospace Report Business Roundtable, sponsored by Bell, Dr. “Rocket” Ron Epstein of Bank of America Securities, Sash Tusa of the independent equity research firm Agency Partners and Richard Aboulafia of the AeroDynamic advisory consultancy join host Vago Muradian to discuss a new all time high for Wall Street; weeks after signing tougher sanctions on Moscow, President Trump partners with Vladimir Putin to reduce oil prices before the November election by buying 4 million tons of Russian diesel; whether the effort will succeed to cut oil prices as it bolster’s Russia’s war coffers against Ukraine; the administration’s warning to Kyiv against striking Russia even as Moscow escalates attacks on Ukrainian civilians; British Prime Minister Andy Burnham and German Chancellor Friedrich Merz’s agreement to enhance military and economic cooperation between the countries that could extend to the Global Combat Air Program; the US Air Force’s abrupt withdrawal of US bombers from Britain over concerns of Iranian attack; analysis of US Navy’s $24.4 billion award to Raytheon for Standard Missile-6 production, the $14.7 billion award to Boeing to triple production of seekers for Lockheed Martin’s PAC-3 MSE or Missile Segment Enhancement, and the US Navy’s $6.6 billion contract to Anduril for nuclear submarine parts; the Air Force and Defense Innovation Unit tap seven competitors for the service’s Massed Modular Aircraft effort to succeed the Reaper, including Anduril, Chaos Industries, General Atomics, Grid Aero, Otto Aerospace, Shield AI and Swarm Aero; and Northrop Grumman’s YFQ-48A Talon Blue’s maiden autonomous flight.
