Mary-Louise Hoffman
Guggenheim Securities has found that foreign military sales of U.S.-built platforms and weapon systems amounted to $29 billion after six months of the government’s 2016 fiscal year, Defense News reported Friday.
Aaron Mehta writes the investment banking and capital markets company said in its report obtained by Defense News that Lockheed Martin is the largest beneficiary of FMS deals for the first half of fiscal 2016, capturing about $16.2 billion in prime contracts under the program during the six-month period.
The report said Raytheon came in second, and Northrop Grumman, Boeing, General Dynamics and BAE Systems rounded out the top five contractors on the FMS program.
The Middle East emerged as the top U.S. defense customer over the past six months, with $17.6 billion in pending orders, followed by Asia with $5.6 billion and Europe with $5.3 billion, according to the report.
Guggenheim Securities projects that FY 2016 foreign military sales will meet or exceed last fiscal year’s $43 billion government-to-government sales if a proposed 10-year U.S. military aid to Israel as well as proposed sales of 73 F-15Es to Qatar and 40 F/A-18E/Fs to Kuwait push through this year.
