The aerospace industry isn’t a “fat cat” and shouldn’t be targeted for tax hikes and cutbacks, Aerospace Industries Association president Marion Blakey said Wednesday. Speaking at an industry lunch in Washington, D.C., she claimed that the “top five companies combined” in the US aerospace sector “are one-half the size of Wal-Mart” in terms of sales, and argued that the industry shouldn’t be disproportionately targeted for “inappropriate” budget cuts. The huge positive contribution that aerospace makes to the nation’s balance of trade suggests that the industry should be allowed to continue to offer its share of “prosperity” to American workers, she said. Foreign military sales “will contract if we’re forced to close production lines,” Blakey asserted.
The Pentagon abruptly relieved Air Force Gen. Timothy D. Haugh, head of the National Security Agency and U.S. Cyber Command, and his NSA civilian deputy, Wendy Noble, on April 3.