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 brutal week on Wall Street on AI worries; Democrats win a historic electoral landslide in the House and Senate, changing Washington’s domestic and foreign policy dynamic through the end of President Trump’s administration; outlook for defense spending as lawmakers return to DC after the election; how allies and partners see the election outcome; reports that the president’s envoys struck a deal with Vladimir Putin on European security that will be unveiled at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in Shenzhen where Trump and Putin will reportedly unveil the new initiative that appears not to have been negotiated in concern with European leaders; ShieldAI’s $5.3 billion deal to acquire radar-maker Echodyne; Embraer’s sale of three KC-390 tanker-transport aircraft to Greece as a piggyback on Portugal’s six-jet buy; Sierra Nevada joined Boeing and Lockheed Martin to withdraw from the US Navy’s Undergraduate Jet Training System competition to replace the T-45 Goshawk, leaving only Textron and Leonardo as the only bidder with the twin-engine M346 aircraft; the US Air Force’s nearly $700 million contract to Lockheed Martin for the AGM-183A Air-Launched Rapid Response Weapon; and the Federal Aviation Administration’s decision to retire floppy disks from the nation’s air traffic control system by 2028.
