Industry

The Pentagon’s budget crunch has pushed the helicopter manufacturer Sikorsky to close a plant in upstate New York.

Boeing’s chief defense official thinks the proposed merger between BAE Systems and EADS needs careful scrutiny from government regulators over potential issues with both national security as well as the defense industry.

Dennis Muilenburg, head of Boeing’s defense operations, told Reuters on Wednesday that the merger had “national security, industrial questions” that would have to be dealt with.

“This is a serious matter that needs to be scrutinized," Muilenburg said.

If the two European firms, BAE Systems and EADS, combine they'll become one of the world’s largest defense companies..

Defense contractor Northrop Grumman says that budget pressures at the Pentagon are behind a reduction of nearly 600 aerospace workers.

European companies EADS and BAE Systems are in discussions to merge, which would make them world’s largest aerospace company, Bloomberg News reported.

Under the potential agreement, EADS would own 60 percent of the new company, and BAE would have 40 percent.

The companies would still keep some U.S. defense interests separate to maintain better access to U.S. markets.

Military contractors complain that lack of guidance from the administration has made it exceedingly difficult to plan for reductions.

Major defense contractors are not tipping their hand on whether to issue mass layoff notices prior to election day.

The meeting comes as defense firms are openly considering layoffs ahead of the looming cuts.

Defense contractor Science Applications International Corp. (SAIC) announced Thursday evening it plans to split into two independent companies, separating its science and technology business from government services and IT.

The spinoff of SAIC's IT and government services business will have an estimated revenue of $4 billion, while the science and tech wing — which is focused on national security, engineering and health — will have estimated revenue of $7 billion.

The split, which was announced by SAIC President and CEO John Jumper, a retired Air Force general, is being done in part to eliminate conflicts of interest that currently prevent them from seeking some new contracts.

The redeployment of Lockheed Martin’s F-22 Raptor is going smoothly, according to The Associated Press.

The Raptors are being deployed to Japan for six months in their first overseas mission since the fleet was grounded last year over multiple instances of pilots developing oxygen depravation, a condition known as hypoxia.

According to information made public by Sen. Mark Warner (D-Va.) and Rep. Adam Kinzinger (R-Ill.) in June, the F-22 had 10 times the number of hypoxia incidents of any other aircraft in the Air Force inventory, with 26 incidents per 100,000 flight hours. There was also a crash in Alaska in 2010 that took the life of Capt. Jeff Haney, the pilot. However, the Air Force determined that pilot error was to blame for the crash and that hypoxia was not involved.

The Air Force was unable to determine the root cause after a seven-month investigation, but eventually resumed flights. As a result, some pilots refused to fly the plane and members of Congress to fiercely criticize the Air Force.