Fiscal 2019 could be 'high-water mark' of defense spending

WASHINGTON – With the defense budget enhanced and set for fiscal 2019, contractors should “enjoy the moment,” says Pentagon Comptroller David Norquist. Continue reading original article

The Military & Aerospace Electronics take:

19 Nov. 2018 -- Norquist declined to get ahead of the White House in addressing the impact of President Trump’s recent directive to all agencies to cut spending next year by 5 percent. But economic forecasts portray the fiscal 2019 defense budget as “the high-water mark” for defense spending while also warning of rising debt and a coming recession.

Norquist predicted major shifts in the defense budget’s structure based on the Trump administration’s December 2017 National Security Strategy. Its underlying theme, he said, “is a return of great power competition” with Russia and China, which will requires sub-agencies and contractors to better serve the warfighter bound for “high-end fights” in unwelcoming terrain and “unfriendly planes” overhead during the voyage to the battleground.

Already, the Pentagon has begun hiring thousands of new Air Force, Navy shipyard, and munition production-line workers, while foreign military sales to allied partners have risen from $33 billion to $54 billion.

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John Keller, chief editor
Military & Aerospace Electronics

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