Defense Business Briefing -- March 13, 2018

Welcome to today's Defense Business Briefing, your weekly roundup of the latest defense industry news.

This week's top story

Foreign defense industrial base officials cautious on Trump's new metal tariff

Defense industrial base officials from the United States, the United Kingdom, Australia and Canada met in Washington today to discuss transnational security cooperation, but were leery of weighing in on potential disruptions caused by President Trump's new tariffs on steel and aluminum.

News & notes

Sanders targets CEO compensation

Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) on Wednesday asked Pentagon Comptroller David Norquist during a Senate Budget Committee hearing to provide him with a report detailing how the Defense Department can effectively negotiate CEO salaries of defense contractors.

GD declares quarterly dividend

General Dynamics board of directors on March 7 declared a regular quarterly dividend of 93 cents per share on the company’s common stock, payable May 11, 2018, to shareholders of record on April 13.

AIA urges Trump to reconsider tariffs

The Aerospace Industries Association has sent a letter to President Trump asking him to reconsider his plans to impose new tariffs on steel and aluminum.

Appointments & promotions

Fordyce will run Elbit Systems DC office

Elbit Systems of America, LLC, announced today that Ted Fordyce has been promoted to lead the company's Washington Operations office and serve as the company's principal representative in the greater Washington region.

What's happening

The week ahead

A very busy week on Capitol Hill with appearances by senior Defense Department leaders.

For Inside Defense subscribers

Pentagon plans multibillion-dollar bet on single cloud

Architects of the Joint Enterprise Defense Infrastructure program envision a future where data moves freely between Defense Department users in a single cloud environment, enabling innovations like machine learning and artificial intelligence, but questions persist about the efficacy of their plan and the fate of other DOD cloud programs.

Winter: Pentagon mulls data rights needed to continue F-35 development

The F-35 joint program office is determining what data rights it needs from Lockheed Martin and lower level suppliers to continue Joint Strike Fighter modernization and production sustainment, according to the program's senior official.