Defense & Aerospace Report

Defense & Aerospace Report, sponsored by Bell

Welcome to the Defense and Aerospace Report podcast, our weekly podcast on the global defense and aerospace business sponsored by Bell, and hosted by Defense & Aerospace Report Editor Vago Muradian. Each week, we’ll bring you interviews with industry leaders and the business’ best analysts to put events in context, identify trends and keep an eye on what’s next in a fast-moving world. Defense & Aerospace Report is your global source for national security and aerospace news, thought leadership and analysis, founded and edited by Vago Muradian.

  1. 16h ago

    Defense & Aerospace Report Podcast [Jul 19, ’26 Business Report]

    On this week’s Defense & Aerospace Report Business Roundtable, sponsored by Bell, Dr. “Rocket” Ron Epstein of Bank of America Securities, Sash Tusa of Agency Partners, and Richard Aboulafia of the AeroDynamic advisory consultancy join host Vago Muradian to discuss a down week on Wall Street on AI worries; the implications of renewed US-Iran military operations; United Airline’s record second quarter 2026 results despite an 84 percent increase fuel costs over the same 2025 period; AV and GE Aerospace earnings results; authorization and appropriations stalled in the Senate as the House Budget Committee considers a revised Reconciliation 3.0 package that includes Iran war funding and totals $60 billion rather than $350 billion as expected with a Reconciliation 4.0 needed to bridge the differences; analysis of Ukraine’s decision to order 16 Rafale fighter jets; Pentagon policy chief Bridge Colby dismisses notion of a “middle power strategy” of smaller nations banding together to keep from being bullied by great powers as well as nations opting against US arms purchases as Canada moves to gain observer status on the Global Combat Air Program led by Britain with Italy and Japan as Ottawa reconsiders its plan to acquire 88 F-35 Lightning fighters from Lockheed Martin, and taps BAE Systems Australia for a nearly $1.8 billion contract for the Arctic Over-The-Horizon Radar to plug air defense gaps for the US-Canada North American Aerospace Defense Command; and the themes that will shape the Farnborough International Airshow 20-24 July 2026.

  2. 3d ago

    Defense & Aerospace Report Podcast [Jul 17, ’26 Washington Roundtable]

    On this week’s Defense & Aerospace Report Washington Roundtable, Dr. Patrick Cronin of the Hudson Institute think tank, Michael Herson of American Defense International, former DoD Europe chief Jim Townsend of the Center for a New American Security, and former Pentagon Comptroller Dr. Dov Zakheim of the Center for Strategic and International Studies join Defense & Aerospace Report Editor Vago Muradian to discuss renewed US-Iran hostilities; a bewildering bewildering week in Congress as the NDAA and appropriations stalled in the Senate, the Iran supplemental and reconciliation; how Sen. Mitch McConnell’s illness and Sen. Lindsey Graham’s sudden death impact legislation; Pentagon policy chief Bridge Colby’s dismissal of “middle power” strategies; Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s latest cabinet reshuffle that ousted Yulia Svyrydenko and his popular defense minister Mykylo Federov; after dismissing the Knesset and calling October elections, Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu to visit Washington for Graham’s funeral; Israel and Lebanon advance peace talks and Hamas asks Iran for help; more than 100 Democratic lawmakersand one Republican vote against military support for Israel; Iraq’s new Prime Minister Ali al Zaidi met with Trump at the White House; Xi Jinping continues to purge the part of top leaders accused of corruption, expelling Politburo member Ma Xingrui, the former governor of Xinjiang province who once headed the country’s space program; North Korea accuses Pak Hui-chol, deputy director of the Organization Department of the Korean People's Army General Political Bureau, of abuse of power and corruption; and the US Coast Guard will base a squadron of its cutters to the Western Pacific.

  3. Jul 12

    Defense & Aerospace Report Podcast [Jul 12, ’26 Business Report]

    On this week’s Defense & Aerospace Report Business Roundtable, sponsored by Bell, Dr. “Rocket” Ron Epstein of Bank of America Securities, Sash Tusa of Agency Partners, and Richard Aboulafia of the AeroDynamic advisory consultancy join host Vago Muradian to discuss Wall Street’s latest up week even as energy prices rise after US and Iranian forces exchanged strikes and President Trump says the ceasefire between the countries is over and Tehran struck shipping in the Strait of Hormuz; air travel impact of renewed hostilities as Delta maintains the carrier will maintain pricing and profit power; the US defense budget outlook as the appropriations process as well as the administration’s $88 billion Iran war supplemental stall; efforts by the House budget committee to accelerate the $350 billion reconciliation 3.0 budget increase for the Pentagon; analysis of NATO’s Ankara summit that included a pledge of unity as well as $50 billion in deals, including the alliance’s acquisition of new Saab GlobalEye radar planes and Northrop Grumman Triton reconnaissance aircraft; whether the summit was enough to assuage allied concerns about America’s commitment to NATO despite rhetoric from Washington and President Trump’s continued interest in acquiring Greenland; implications of Trump’s pledge to allow Ukraine to join Japan and Germany in license producing Patriot missiles; what it will take to allow Turkey back into the F-35 Lightning II fighter project; the decision — after Washington resumed strikes on Iran — to fly the president out of the Turkish capital to Britain on the purpose-built VC-25A presidential transport, where he boarded the former Qatari jet to return to Washington; Lockheed Martin’s proposed $3.5 billion acquisition of Ultra’s Martime business; engine failure aboard a Ryanair 737 heading from Greece to Germany that shattered a window, injuring a passenger before who was sucked partly out of the aircraft; and Bank of America’s initiation of SpaceX coverage.

  4. Jul 10

    Defense & Aerospace Report Podcast [Jul 10, ’26 Washington Roundtable]

    On this week’s Defense & Aerospace Report Washington Roundtable, Dr. Patrick Cronin of the Hudson Institute think tank, Michael Herson of American Defense International, former DoD Europe chief Jim Townsend of the Center for a New American Security, and former Pentagon Comptroller Dr. Dov Zakheim of the Center for Strategic and International Studies join Defense & Aerospace Report Editor Vago Muradian to discuss a $1.15 trillion House National Defense Authorization Act that’s in trouble as both the Trump administration’s $88 billion Iran war supplemental and House and Senate appropriations processes stall; under President Trump’s pressure, the House Budget Committee moves to advance the $350 billion Reconciliation 3.0 measure for the Pentagon; US attorney Jay Clayton’s hearing to become the next director of national intelligence is back on; after Iran attacked three ships in the Strait of Hormuz Trump says the ceasefire with Tehran is over and resumed strikes, again sending energy prices soaring as Iran continues efforts to exert control over the critical waterway; takeaways from the NATO’s Ankara Summit where Trump berated allies for not backing his Iran war and still seeking to acquire Greenland, but also endorsed alliance priorities including defense projects and allowed Ukraine to license produce Patriot missiles; as Russia ramps up attacks on Ukraine, Moscow uses AI to wage a disinformation campaign against American data centers and technology; Russia’s partnership with China; Beijing’s test of a new submarine-launched ballistic missile; Taiwan’s opposition pro-China Kuomintang party stalls President Lai Ching Te’s asymmetric defense strategy; analysis of former US ambassador to Japan Rahm Emanuel’s peace plan for the Middle East; Israel’s declining popularity; Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu’s plan to visit New York City in September for the United Nations General Assembly meeting as New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani vows to make good on his plan to enforce an International Criminal Court arrest warrant on the Israeli leader; and a look at US political drama from Graham Platner’s collapsing campaign against Sen. Susan Collins in Maine to the impact of Sen. Mitch McConnell’s declining health.

4
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About

Welcome to the Defense and Aerospace Report podcast, our weekly podcast on the global defense and aerospace business sponsored by Bell, and hosted by Defense & Aerospace Report Editor Vago Muradian. Each week, we’ll bring you interviews with industry leaders and the business’ best analysts to put events in context, identify trends and keep an eye on what’s next in a fast-moving world. Defense & Aerospace Report is your global source for national security and aerospace news, thought leadership and analysis, founded and edited by Vago Muradian.

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