Nation & World | Golden decade ending for defense companies

Nation & World | Golden decade ending for defense companies | Seattle Times Newspaper

NEW YORK — The wars in Iraq and Afghanistan are winding down, Osama bin Laden is dead, and the federal government is deeply in debt. This spells the end of what was a golden decade for the defense industry.

In the decade since the Sept. 11 attacks, the annual defense budget has more than doubled to $700 billion and annual defense-industry profits have nearly quadrupled, approaching $25 billion last year.

Now military spending is poised to retreat, and so are industry profits. "We're about to go into the downhill side of the roller coaster here," said David Berteau, a defense-industry analyst at the Center for Strategic and International Studies.

Congress agreed last month to cut military spending by $350 billion over the next 10 years. The defense budget will automatically be cut by an additional $500 billion over that period if lawmakers fail to reach a deficit-cutting deal by November.

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