America's Hottest Export: Weapons

Thanks to a surge in overseas demand, Boeing's F-15 and other aging US weapons systems are hotter than they've been in years. The Department of Defense last year told Congress of plans to sell up to $103 billion in weapons to overseas buyers, a staggering rise from an average of $13 billion a year between 1995 and 2005, according to Deutsche Bank analyst Myles Walton. As defense giants like Boeing, Raytheon, and Lockheed Martin increasingly seek to peddle their wares to well-financed (sometimes by the US) international customers, they have a surprising ally: the President. Obama is much more favorably disposed to arms exports than any of the previous Democratic administrations, says Loren Thompson, a veteran defense consultant. For the administration, robust international arms sales advance domestic goals, like bolstering exports and supporting a defense workforce of more than 200,000. Unlike most other businesses, arms makers play a central role in US foreign policy, perhaps now more than ever.