Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel’s strategic review, likely to produce some heavy program decisions and organizational streamlining in the next few months, is a good development for industry, said Lockheed Martin President and CEO Marilyn Hewson on Tuesday. “What [Pentagon officials] communicated to me is, they’re not changing the strategy. They’re making choices around the national security strategy,” Hewson told reporters after a May 14 talk at the company’s offices in Crystal City, Va. Making definitive choices—Hagel has said the goal is not to waste money by kicking decisions down the road—”in a constrained budget environment . . . I think that’s positive,” remarked Hewson. She also said Hagel, in a recent meeting with some 37 industry CEOs, said the right things. “I thought the dialog was very good,” said Hewson. “All of us are trying to sell more internationally as we see a flattening or declining in our domestic defense business,” she added. By keeping production lines open, increasing volume and interoperability with allies, “it’s a win-win,” she said, noting that the CEOs asked for Hagel’s support “with US advocacy . . . and he agreed.” The discussion also revolved around workforce and “how we address engineering atrophy” as companies have fewer new starts to work on, she said.
The rate of building B-21 bombers would speed up if the fiscal 2026 defense budget passes. But it remains unclear how much capacity would be added, and whether the Air Force would simply build the bombers faster, or buy more.