Defense Budgets Shrink Technology Spending [Special Reports]

As defense budgets go, so goes a lot of spending on technology. But for most major countries, a lot of belt tightening is in the works, most notably in the United States and across Europe.Defense budget cuts are hitting prime contractors and their suppliers hard. The postelection picture in Washington and the budget crisis in Europe are making projections difficult, but the top 20 global defense and aerospace companies have already experienced a 1% decrease in global revenue in the first half of 2012-on top of the 3.3% decline in revenue in 2011. In this environment, industry is likely to pick up more of the development costs of new military systems and upgrades. The only real winners here may be commercial-off-the-shelf (COTS) providers, most of which now meet military-standard (MIL-STD) and other military hardware requirements.