Executives at this year’s Reuters Aerospace and Defense Summit almost uniformely said that finding critical, and rather immediate, value in mergers and acquisitions was especially important now in a climate of less money available for financing.

But opportunities do exist and can be found after careful hunting, said Alex Dorrian (heard first in this clip), CEO of Thales UK and executive vice president of International Operations for Thales Group worldwide, and Allan Cameron, chairman and CEO of Thales North America.

On defense, Cameron said he expected that spending in the United States going forward would “flatten, at best”.

Cameron and Dorrian led off the second day of the summit, held again in Reuters Washington, D.C. offices.

The Aero and Defense Summit is the final one of the year. In 2008, Reuters has had 33 summits around the globe and have as many or more planned for 2009. Our previous gathering, Reuters Investment Outlook Summit, provided clients with an excellent look at how to manage through what will certainly be a challenging 2009.