Editor’s Note

It takes guts and speed to be a winner in the defense market. Cheryl Snead, chief executive of a small services company in Lincoln, R.I., knows that better than most. Twelve years ago, she was running a machine shop that supplied parts to major defense contractors. She invested in her business and kept her customers happy but struggled to stay afloat as defense companies switched to plastics and placed their orders elsewhere. Then she hitched her future to an emerging trend in the market.

Raytheon and other defense firms were outsourcing more of their warehousing, assembly and packaging. Snead switched to supply chain management, dumped her machines and never looked back. Today, others point to her as an example of how the chief executive of a minute company can succeed in a market dominated by multibillion-dollar giants. Snead’s story (p. 16) contains a few tips for industrial minnows that want to swim with the whales.

On the other side of the market stands Adm. Thomas J. Collins, commandant of the Coast Guard, who is spending billions of dollars to buy new cutters, aircraft and intelligence systems for his force of 41,000. Though he is one of the top customers in the defense domain, life is no walk in the park for Collins, either. His existing fleet is infamous for ships’ engines that won’t work and helicopters that stall in mid-air. In this month’s Interview (p. 40), Collins tells us about life on a political high wire, as he balances today’s emergencies against the need to quickly build tomorrow’s new fleet.

Even the rules that regulate the market are changing fast. Associate Editor Hunter C. Keeter reports (p. 12) that Congress threatens next year to launch a new study of the defense industrial base. And the Navy is developing new acquisition strategies to balance security requirements against the need to maintain a defense industry with the requisite skills and mass to invest in innovations for warfighters and respond to national emergencies. It’s a national struggle that dates back at least to the beginning of the Cold War era.

Keeter’s look ahead is one more reason why Sea Power is the defense magazine that covers the future. As always, thanks for tuning in.

Richard C. Barnard
Editor in Chief

We are eager to get your feedback. Contact me at rbarnard@navyleague.org or by mail at Sea Power, 2300 Wilson Blvd., Arlington, VA 22201-3308.