With Kennedy's Passing, New England Defense Industry Loses a Major SupporterSeptember 02, 2009

 

U.S. Senator Ted Kennedy's death last week is likely to shake up the defense industry.

Kennedy represented Massachusetts for about 45 years in the Senate and was entrenched on the powerful Senate Armed Services Committee. With that seat now vacant, various programs could face cutbacks unless someone with the same influence and power replaces him, Reuters reported.

While Kennedy's politics were openly liberal and he was known as a dove on foreign policy, he was a staunch protector of the defense industry in Massachusetts and across New England.

Kennedy's long tenure in the Senate Armed Services Committee made him a central player and key person to consult on many defense deals, an industry lobbyist told Reuters. "It helps when one of your friends has been on the [Armed Services] committee for decades," the lobbyist said.

The defense industry is "a big economic driver in Massachusetts," according to the Reuters article. The article cites a University of Massachusetts study that shows the state's defense spending totaling $9.2 billion in 2005, with another $5.5 billion in indirect spending. This accounted for 4.6% of the state's domestic product.

“His longevity and seniority allowed him to work with colleagues to keep funding flowing to his state's contractors,” writes Matthew Potter, who covers defense spending and procurement for BNET.com.

The two defense contractors that benefited from Kennedy's influence were Raytheon and General Electric. GE, in a joint venture with Rolls Royce, is fighting to continue production of an alternate model of a fighter jet engine for the F-35, which is under threat of cancellation. "No doubt the second engine for the F-35 wouldn't be alive without him," Owen Cote, a security specialist at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, told Reuters.

GE's engine competes against a similar model by United Technologies and faces more negotiations this fall. A GE spokesman told Reuters that the company was confident that the program would be funded. "Fortunately, we have broad support from people Kennedy influenced" in favor of the engine, he said.