Arlington, VA – Aerospace Industries Association (AIA) President and CEO Eric Fanning today applauded Congress after they unveiled this year’s National Defense Authorization Act, which authorizes increased defense spending and includes major wins for the aerospace and defense industry—streamlining acquisition, protecting intellectual property rights, and accelerating the delivery of critical capabilities to the U.S. military.
“For years, overregulation, outdated policies, and misaligned priorities have hamstrung the industry that delivers the strength needed to maintain peace around the world,” Fanning started.“This year’s National Defense Authorization Act delivers needed change by cutting through bureaucratic red tape and delivering a clear demand signal to the defense industrial base: innovate, build, and deliver.
“The Aerospace Industries Association and our members are especially pleased to see a much-needed boost to defense funding, protections for innovative intellectual property, and investments in space launch facilities, policies that we have championed,” Fanning continued. “We are also pleased to see significant changes to the acquisition system included in this year’s bill to help usher in a faster and more agile system, benefiting both the Pentagon and industry.
“We thank Chairman Wicker, Chairman Rogers, Ranking Member Reed, and Ranking Member Smith for their leadership and the Armed Services Committees for their bipartisan efforts to strengthen our national defense and deliver for the warfighter and the millions of Americans that provide for the national security of the United States.”
Included in the bill is language that requires the Pentagon to assess the access they need to industry’s intellectual property, a priority that Fanning championed in an op-ed in The Washington Times.
Also included are AIA-supported provisions that increase key procurement thresholds, reduce the compliance burden associated with the Cost Accounting Standards, and streamline processes to procure commercial products and services.
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