Thomas A. Kennedy
Analyst · Citigroup
So Jason, on the international side, obviously, right now there's a significant threat across multiple regions. If you're fairly knowledgeable about the Middle East, you understand the concerns about Iran by several countries in that region. And for example, that's why we're seeing that uptick in Qatar and several other countries relative to the integrated air missile defense. Our brand in that region is very strong. We've been in the region for 50 years. We've delivered products, supported product, and have provided, we call it, solutions that were very well-matched to the customers' needs. So bottom line is, we have a great relationship with those Middle East countries in terms of future product upgrades, and then also future product solutions in -- not just the integrated air missile defense, but also C4I and several other technology areas in ISR. One other question you brought up is how does -- I think you're alluding is how does Patriot compete with MEADS and then how does Patriot compete with the Chinese? A significant change to Patriot occurred, we just completed it with the U.A.E., which was about a $500 million nonrecurring upgrade to the complete Patriot system, which has significantly improved not only its capabilities, but also its availability, reliability and maintainability. So right now it's the only system out there that has those capabilities that has been fielded. MEADS has not been fielded yet and has not been completely tested. So it has work to go before it gets to the availability levels and support levels that Patriot is already achieving today. Furthermore, we continue to make investments in Patriot, too, for future upgrades. And we look forward to them. If you look at the budget and the outlay for the DoD, there is money in there for some upgrades on Patriot. They may be competitive as we move forward. One of them is an AESA radar for Patriot, which obviously is in our -- straight and down center of our capability area and we will definitely be -- are pursuing that upgrade. So I think Patriot, overall, is very strong, not only internationally, but also domestically. And it's being funded very strongly in both areas.