SI International purchased by UK company

August 31, 2008 by Dagpotter · Comment
Filed under: Acquisitions, England, SI International, Serco, U.S. Air Force 

Serco, a large service provider from the UK with worldwide operations, announced that it had purchased the US defense contractor, SI International. The $400 M deal expands Serco into the US defense market and represents another broadening of their market base. This continues the trend of European companies buying US ones in order to reach the large DoD budget here. By buying a US company many of the technology transfer and security requirements that impact foreign companies doing business can be minimized. SI International has 4,500 employees and primarily supports the US Air Force, an area that Serco does not do much business with.

The Guardian has the story here.

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Former Undersecretary of Acquisition criticizes Boeing

August 29, 2008 by Dagpotter · Comment
Filed under: Boeing, Contract Awards, EADS, GAO, Military Aviation, Northrop Grumman Corp., Proposal, Protest, U.S. Air Force, commercial aviation, logistics, production program 


The former Undersecretary of Defense for Acquisition, Technology and Logistics was quoted in a newspaper article criticizing Boeing for wanting a delay in submitting their proposal for the KC-45 recompete. Jacques Gansler who worked in the second Clinton administration said that because of the critical need for the new aircraft if Boeing cannot support the schedule, perhaps they should just not bid. He feels that it would not be proper for the government to give the delay in this situation.

For more see The Guardian.

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US Air Force looks to replace C-130E aircraft

August 26, 2008 by Dagpotter · 1 Comment
Filed under: Federal Budget Process, Lockheed Martin, Military Aviation, Proposal, U.S. Air Force, U.S. Marine Corps, production program 

The US Air Force has begun talks with Lockheed Martin on executing a multi-year procurement contract for C-130J aircraft. These would replace the Air Forces and other Service’s current inventory of C-130E Hercules. The contract could be for up to 110 aircraft and have a value over time of $6 B. Multi-year procurements must be authorized by Congress and they are typically done for aircraft and other large systems in order to save money over time.

For more see The Guardian’s Business Feed.

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Labor government cuts defence budget, English contractors feel pain

February 10, 2008 by Dagpotter · Comment
Filed under: BAE Systems, England, Restructuring, VT Group 

This analysis in The Guardian says that BAE and the VT Group will lose billions in orders from the British government if planned cuts to the defence budget go through. Because some of the contracts for hardware have cancellation clauses the government may be force to buy the systems and then sell them to other nations. This is all part of an attempt to reduce public spending.

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