Kendall Reviewing Sikorsky Buy

Frank Kendall, the Pentagon's top acquisition official, said today the Defense Department will review Lockheed Martin's planned $9 billion purchase of Sikorsky.

Lockheed announced last week it plans to acquire the helicopter maker. The deal is expected to close around the end of the year.

"We're going to go through the normal review process we would with any merger," Kendall said at a directed-energy event in Tysons Corner, VA, hosted by the Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments.

"This is a large one with consequences for the industrial base, so we're going to take a careful look at it,” he said.

Marillyn Hewson, Lockheed's chief executive, said last week that she has discussed the deal with Pentagon officials and doesn't anticipate problems.

“We are not reducing the number of competitors at all . . . in the helicopter segment, so in that sense there shouldn't be a concern,” she said. “There's very little overlap between our two portfolios.”