Lecture Abstract:

As defense budgets flatten and decline in traditional US and European domestic markets, emerging international markets are becoming an increasingly important component of future growth forecasts for leading global aerospace & defense companies. For top A&D firms and national governments, international  market opportunities shape also economic and security interdependencies. Firms tend to consider  international business opportunities  as an alternative or a hedging  strategy in order to sustain existing defense industrial base. However, the corporate behavior is also influenced by existing national business-government relations models. In this context the lecture/discussion will have two goals:

– To discuss the corporate strategies of key US & European military aircraft manufacturers in 2012-2016 (Boeing, Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman, BAE Systems, Airbus Group, Leonardo and Saab AB) in support of of diagnosing the current state of business-government relations in the US, France, Sweden, UK & Italy.

– To introduce an analytical framework which will help assess arms export dynamics from both government & corporate sector perspectives.

About the Speaker:

Sorin Lungu is a Professor in the Department of National Security and Industrial Base at the Eisenhower School of National Security and Resource Strategy at the National Defense University (Washington, DC). Since August 2010 he is the faculty lead for the Aircraft Industry Study program (where he teaches also Industry Analytics and the International Comparative Defense Business Environments modules). He also developed and leads (since fall 2010) the (Indo-Asia-Pacific focused) Long-Term Strategy electives concentration program, where he teaches courses in diagnostic net assessment, defense strategic planning, military technology diffusion and Asian defense markets dynamics, and directs research.

Before joining the National Defense University in October 2006, he previously taught at the U.S. Air War College in the Department of Joint Military Operations (July 2005-October 2006). A naturalized U.S. citizen, he earned his PhD in International Affairs from the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University (1999-2005), with a dissertation titled “European Defense Market Integration: The Aerospace Sector in 1987-1999.” He holds an MA in National Security Affairs (Western Europe concentration) from the U.S. Naval Postgraduate School at Monterey (1997-98) and a BS/MS in Mathematics from the University of Bucharest, Romania (1987-92)

He also attended the Vienna-based Austrian Diplomatic Academy (1994-95) and was awarded research fellowships by the WEU Security Studies Institute (Paris, 2001) and the Konrad Adenauer Foundation (Germany, 2001-02). He was a fellow in MIT’s Seminar XXI program (September 2007-May 2008). Since February 2006 he is a member of the London-based International Institute for Strategic Studies. His articles appeared in The RUSI Journal, Comparative Strategy, Defense and Security Analysis, American Diplomacy, and Strategic Insights. From 1992-94, he was broker at the Romanian Commodities Exchange (Bucharest), and then a member of the Romanian diplomatic corps (1994-98). During the 2012-13 academic year he was on sabbatical as a William C. Foster Fellow with the Department of State (in the Regional Security and Arms Transfer Office, Bureau of Political Military Affairs). He participated in the 2013 SAIS Hertog Summer Study and completed executive education programs focused on global strategic management (Harvard Business School) and competitive strategies (Wharton School of Business)