WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Small businesses in the United States could lose nearly 1 million jobs in 2013 if lawmakers do not avert $1.2 trillion in across-the-board budget cuts due to begin taking effect in January, a new study showed.

The Aerospace Industries Association released a new analysis on Thursday that showed that small businesses would likely lose 956,181 jobs – or 45 percent of the 2.14 million total job losses expected across the United States if the additional budget cuts take effect.

WASHINGTON, Sept 20 (Reuters) – Small businesses in the
United States could lose nearly 1 million jobs in 2013 if
lawmakers do not avert $1.2 trillion in across-the-board budget
cuts due to begin taking effect in January, a new study showed.

The Aerospace Industries Association released a new analysis
on Thursday that showed that small businesses would likely lose
956,181 jobs – or 45 percent of the 2.14 million total job
losses expected across the United States if the additional
budget cuts take effect.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – A merger of Europe’s EADS (EAD.PA: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) and Britain’s BAE Systems Plc (BAES.L: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) would raise national security and industrial questions and should be reviewed carefully by government regulators, the head of Boeing Co’s (BA.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) defense operations said on Wednesday.

“We would expect that to be subjected to all the normal regulatory scrutiny,” Dennis Muilenburg told Reuters at the annual Air Force Association conference. “There are … national security questions, industrial questions, and those will have to be dealt with.”

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Privately-owned U.S. computer networks remain vulnerable to cyber attacks, and many U.S. companies are not doing enough to protect them, Deputy U.S. Defense Secretary Ashton Carter said on Wednesday.

“I hope this isn’t one of those situations where we won’t do what we need to do until we get slammed,” Carter told the annual Air Force Association conference.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – To grasp how much the budget wars have altered the natural order of things in Washington, consider this: One of the most powerful lobbies in town, the defense industry, is feeling a bit powerless.

It is trying to head off automatic across-the-board cuts in the Pentagon budget of $54 billion next year alone, produced by a 2011 bipartisan budget deal. But it has made little apparent progress in blocking or tempering the so-called “sequestration” of funds set for January.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Northrop Grumman (NOC.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) and AgustaWestland, a unit of Italy’s Finmeccanica SpA (SIFI.MI: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz), said on Tuesday they were joining forces to compete for the new U.S. Air Force Combat Rescue helicopter and the U.S. Navy’s new “Marine One” presidential helicopter.

The announcement marks a sharp turn for AgustaWestland, which was previously teamed with Lockheed Martin Corp (LMT.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) on the Navy’s last attempt to buy a new presidential helicopter, and the U.S. Air Force’s effort to replace its aging search and rescue helicopters. Both programs were eventually canceled amid rising costs.

WASHINGTON, Sept 18 (Reuters) – The top officer in the U.S.
Air Force on Tuesday joined other Pentagon officials in raising
questions about the Lockheed Martin Corp F-35 program,
saying the cost of building and operating the new single-engine
fighter needed to come down.

General Mark Welsh said he was still learning about the F-35
program after taking over as Air Force Chief of Staff last
month, but the new fighter clearly remained one of the Air
Force’s top acquisition priorities, along with a new Boeing Co
refueling tanker and plans for a new long-range bomber.

WASHINGTON, Sept 18 (Reuters) – Northrop Grumman and
Italy’s Finmeccanica SpA’s AgustaWestland on Tuesday
said they were joining forces to compete for the new U.S. Air
Force Combat Rescue helicopter and the U.S. Navy’s new “Marine
One” presidential helicopter.

The two companies said they signed a comprehensive teaming
agreement to respond to the two anticipated U.S. competitions,
with Northrop serving as the prime contractor in both cases.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The U.S. Air Force said on Monday it was too costly to modify for export a fleet of 18 unmanned Northrop Grumman Corp (NOC.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) Global Hawk surveillance planes that the Pentagon wants to retire under a plan that U.S. lawmakers have criticized.

The Air Force will continue using the Block 30 version of the high-altitude spy planes until Congress agrees to take them out of service, Air Force Lieutenant General Larry James, deputy chief of staff of the Air Force for intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance, told reporters on Monday.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Pentagon officials slammed Lockheed Martin Corp’s (LMT.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) performance on the $396 billion F-35 fighter jet program and said they would not bail out the program again if problems with the plane’s cutting-edge pilot helmet and software were not resolved.

Deputy F-35 program manager Air Force Major General Christopher Bogdan said on Monday the government’s relationship with Lockheed was the “worst I’ve ever seen” in many years of working on complex acquisition programs.