Contractors such as Lockheed, Boeing, Northrop and Raytheon Co expect regional demand for their products and services to help them offset Pentagon belt-tightening forced by U.S. deficit-trimming measures.
These four companies are best-placed to benefit because of their work with satellites, radar, tracking stations and missile interceptors.
… the administration formally proposed a $1.2 billion sale of Northrop Grumman’s high-flying RQ-4 “Global Hawk” spy drones and related gear to South Korea. The Global Hawk carries cloud-piercing Raytheon sensors to scan large areas for enemy forces by day or night.
The administration told Congress two days before Pyongyang’s rocket launch that Tokyo was seeking a potential $421 million “Aegis” system upgrade for a pair of guided-missile destroyers to better defend against ballistic missile attacks.
Japan also has agreed to host a second land-based X-Band radar station – a possible prelude to purchase of Lockheed’s Terminal High Altitude Area Defense system, designed to intercept enemy missiles inside the atmosphere and in space.
The highest-profile U.S. offering now is Lockheed Martin’s radar-evading F-35 Joint Strike Fighter aircraft, whose three variants make up the Pentagon’s costliest arms program.
Japan already has selected the F-35 to replace aging F-4s as its next mainstay fighter, a deal valued at more than $5 billion. The F-35 is being considered by Singapore and South Korea, which is also weighing rival bids from the Eurofighter Typhoon and Boeing’s F-15 Silent Eagle. The Korean competition is for a 60-plane order valued at more than $7 billion.
U.S. arms sales to India, now at a cumulative $8 billion from near zero in 2008, are expected to keep on booming. India plans to spend about $100 billion over the next decade to upgrade its arsenal, partly as a counter to China. India and China fought a brief, high-altitude border war in 1962.
Taiwan, meanwhile, is retrofitting all of its 145 existing F-16A/B fighters with cutting-edge radar capabilities, advanced electronic warfare suites and other upgrades. Lockheed Martin received a $1.85 billion contract to start the work.