Sequester Crushes Small Defense Firms While The Biggies Pivot To Cyber
Instead, law makers are more likely to cut off the little fish.
"Lawmakers have warned, small defense contractors will bear the brunt of the cuts," writes Munsil, who notes that one unnamed company had to recently dump half its staff overnight.
“It all flows downhill,” said Mark Drever, president of Xcelerate Solutions, a 100-person company in McLean, Va., that owes about half of its business to the Defense Department. “If there’s no money, there are no contracts, and we’re not going to be able to sustain and create new jobs,” Denver told Politico.
The bigger fish — like Raytheon and Lockheed Martin — will turn to try and influence emerging markets, those in cyber security and international arms.
Bloomberg reports that Raytheon has acquired as many as 12 smaller cyber security firms, and has entered an information sharing agreement touted by the Obama administration.
“The demand is there. I think the priority is there, and the threat is serious,” Steve Hawkins, vice president of information and security solutions for Raytheon, said in an interview with Bloomberg. Raytheon now wants to “make cybersecurity affordable to medium- and small-sized businesses.”