Pentagon Spending Screeches to a (Near) Halt

Rich Smith, The Motley Fool
Updated

Maybe there's something to this whole "sequestration" phenomenon after all -- because for all intents and purposes -- and certainly in comparison with recent trends -- Department of Defense spending has come to a screeching halt in recent days. On Wednesday, for example, DoD issued a grand total of three new contracts, totaling a mere Pentagon pittance of just $44.4 million.

  • Privately heldBeechcraft Defense, still feuding with Embraer over a contract award for fighter planes in Afghanistan, got a consolation prize of sorts. The $28.6 million firm-fixed-price contract extension it won Wednesday, to service Iraqi Air Force T-6 training aircraft through Dec. 31, was the largest award the DoD gave out Wednesday.

  • A large step down from that one was an $8.3 million award to BAE Systems' Maritime Services Division to supply "Archerfish neutralizers (destructor, mine neutralization, Airborne EX64 Mod 0 Archerfish)" as part of an upgrade to U.S. Navy MK-105 AMCM Magnetic Mine Sweeping systems produced by Exelis . BAE's expected to complete performance on this contract by September 2014.

  • Finally, Comtech Telecommunications subsidiary Comtech EF Data won at $7.5 million cost-plus-incentive-fee, cost-plus-fixed-fee, firm-fixed-price contract to supply Advanced Time Division Multiple Access Interface Processors -- Ethernet devices to be used by the U.S. Navy to connect ship, shore, and submarine platforms. Work on this contract will be complete by April 24, unless contract options are extended. In that case, the completion date could move out to March 2018, and the contract value could rise to $28.4 million.

The article Pentagon Spending Screeches to a (Near) Halt originally appeared on Fool.com.

Fool contributor Rich Smith has no position in any stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool recommends Embraer. Try any of our Foolish newsletter services free for 30 days. We Fools don't all hold the same opinions, but we all believe that considering a diverse range of insights makes us better investors. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.

Copyright © 1995 - 2013 The Motley Fool, LLC. All rights reserved. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.

Advertisement