Pentagon Last Supper Defense Mergers

In 1993, near the end of the Cold War era, U.S. Defense Secretary Les Aspin and Deputy Defense Secretary William Perry hosted a dinner at the Pentagon that industry insiders later called the 'Last Supper.' They brought together the heads of major defense contractors and told them that steep post Cold War budget cuts were coming and that the Pentagon expected them to consolidate if they wanted to survive. In the years after that dinner, a wave of mergers and acquisitions reduced the number of prime defense contractors from 51 to just 5.

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