On this combined Washington Roundtable and Business Report episode of the Defense & Aerospace Report Podcast, sponsored by Bell, our guests in segment one are Dov Zakheim, PhD, former DoD comptroller, now with the Center for Strategic and International Studies, Michael Herson, President and CEO, Bob Hale, former Pentagon comptroller and Mackenzie Eaglen of the American Enterprise Institute. In segment two we are joined by our normal Sunday business crew, “Rocket Ron” Epstein, PhD, of Bank of America Merrill Lynch, Richard Aboulafia of the Teal Group consultancy and Sash Tusa of Agency Partners.

Topics:— Move by House to repeal the 2001 Authorization for Use of Military Force, update defense spending plus-ups and bipartisan infrastructure legislation and Jan. 6 investigation— Look at House Appropriations defense subcommittee markup— Outlook for Biden administration nominations that are on hold including Frank Kendall, Mike Brown, Jen Easterly and Susanna Blume— Implications of Russia’s recent test of a new missile and revelation that China is building some 120 new ballistic missile silos in the western desert near Yumen— Legacy of former two-time Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld who passed away this week at age 88— Switzerland’s decision to acquire Lockheed Martin’s F-35 Lightning II to replace aging Boeing F/A-18 Hornet and Northrop Grumman F-5 Tiger fighters as well as Raytheon’s Patriot air and missile defense system— Germany’s move to acquire Boeing’s P-8 Poseidon as its next maritime patrol aircraft, jeopardizing plan to cooperate with France on future capability— United Airlines’ decision to acquire 200 Boeing 737 Max and 70 Airbus A321neo jetliners— Boeing picks Brian West as new chief financial officer to replace Greg Smith who retired earlier this year