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 another down week on Wall Street on rising AI financing costs and oil prices jumped $3 a barrel to $114, a mark not seen since May, after Iran attacked more ships in the Strait of Hormuz and Tehran-backed Houthi rebels continued their attacks on Saudi Arabia and its energy infrastructure; earning analysis as BETA Technologies, CACI, BoozAllen Hamilton, GE Aerospace, Hexcel, Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman, RTX, Saab, Safran, SpaceX, Teledyne Technologies, and Thales report results; outlook for energy prices as US and Israel are expected to renew attacks on Iran and Tehran warns of retaliation of struck; whether US decision to resume intelligence sharing and Starshield services to Kyiv mollify growing concerns among allies about Washington’s reliability as the Pentagon continues to withhold Patriot missiles nations bought for Ukraine; whether demonstrations rocking Europe will propel anti-Ukraine and pro-Russia right wing parties to power, like the AfD in Germany that’s promised to cut defense spending; looking ahead to Britain’s new budget by Chancellor John Healey; President Trump’s decision to dial back Canada tariffs as Bombardier promises investment in the United States; the Pentagon’s 10-year, $78 billion “framework” agreement with Lockheed Martin for 850 more F-35 Lightning II fighters that requires the company invest $7 billion of its own money in the program; the $3.3 billion agreement between France and the UAE to develop a more advanced version of Dassault’s Rafale fighter; and takeaways from the National Business Aviation Association conference and tradeshow in Las Vegas.
