In a time of rising defense budgets and challenges from China, we must increase competition in the defense sector, not undermine it.

Washington, D.C. — The Open Markets Institute today issued a statement opposing Raytheon’s acquisition of United Technologies.

"This deal is bad for national security, bad for the taxpayer, and bad for the American soldier,” said Barry Lynn, executive director of Open Markets. “At a time when China is rapidly expanding its military and dramatically upgrading its technology, it makes little sense to allow a deal that mainly serves a few executives and financiers. If Americans need a fresh example of what happens when too few people control too many key technologies, we need only study Boeing's disastrous management of the development of the 737 Max airliner. The result,” Lynn said, “is people die."

In an upcoming article in the American Conservative, Open Markets fellow Matt Stoller will discuss the history of monopolization in the defense sector, including the wave of consolidation after the infamous “last supper” meeting in the Clinton Administration, and how that consolidation harmed our national defense. "The challenge of Chinese ascendance means we need to revitalize our aerospace and defense sector," Stoller said, "not allow even less little competition and less quality and innovation."

The House Committee on Oversight and Reform recently held a hearing on defense monopoly profits, focusing specifically on a company called Transdigm. As a result of this hearing, Transdigm returned $16 million in excess charges voluntarily to the Pentagon. The hearing was led by Congressman Ro Khanna. The Open Markets Institute's Matt Stoller encouraged the initial investigation into Transdigm in 2017. "This is the start of a focus on monopolies in defense industries,” said Stoller.

"We encourage Congress and the Department of Justice not only to reject this deal but to begin to undo the extreme monopolization in the defense and aerospace industries that has taken place since the 1990s," Stoller added.