From Paris, reassuring words for the industrial base

The Defense Department is keenly interested in maintaining the defense industrial base in the face of steep budget cuts and wants the nation’s top contractors to focus heavily on developing innovations in areas such as unmanned systems, cyber defense and long-range strike capabilities, reports Paul McLeary at Aviation Week’s Ares Blog.

Speaking June 19 at an Aerospace Industries Association President’s Dinner in Paris on the eve of the Paris Air Show, Deputy Defense Secretary William Lynn said that DOD and its industrial partners and financial backers are in it together “for the long haul.”

Of those emerging technology areas which the DOD believes are going to play a decisive role in future conflicts, Lynn said, “We do not yet know the exact shape they will take or the precise advantages they will confer, but unless we shield the research and defense funds that support them, we will deny future decision-makers the opportunity to deploy these technologies.”