U.S. and Israeli defense industries are anxious for details of a ten-year, $38.8 billion military assistance package that was signed in Washington this past September. Whether the terms of the aid package are upended entirely or left mostly unchanged by the current incoming administration will have far reaching consequences on future U.S. and Israeli government procurement.
As discussed in a recent post on Covington’s Global Policy Watch blog, since 2007, U.S. and Israeli defense contractors have become accustomed to navigating the terms of an FY2009-FY2018 assistance program. The new 10-year package, however, presents new, unchartered challenges, for which industry will have to prepare and adapt. To do so effectively, companies will want to (i) glean more specific details regarding the terms of the new aid package, especially in light of changing administrations (ii) work towards increasing their eligibility for defense funding by adapting structurally, either through approved M&A activity or B2B cooperation between U.S. and Israeli companies, and, finally, (iii) engage with experts, policy makers and regulators, to ensure their plans align with any current or future compliance constraints.
What is clear, the changing landscape presents challenges and opportunities for both U.S. and Israeli defense contractors.
For a more in depth discussion of these issues, read the entire post here.