American defence executives are braced for a Donald Trump return to the White House that could be more disruptive than his first term, when he showed a willingness to shake up the status quo and personally intervened in procurement decisions.
His insistence in 2018 on a cut-price contract for two new Air Force One planes left Boeing, the long-term provider of the presidential aircraft, nursing heavy losses. This time, industry executives and investors fear the Trump administration will disrupt the established defence hierarchy by giving lucrative contracts to newer players.
Since Trump’s election victory in November, shares in most of the main US defence groups have underperformed the wider S&P 500 index amid uncertainty over what a second term holds for defence spending and weapons programmes.