{"id":16082,"date":"2019-07-22T09:30:30","date_gmt":"2019-07-22T09:30:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/uncategorized\/2019\/07\/22\/whats-left-in-the-dust-of-a-massive-merger\/"},"modified":"2026-08-07T21:35:28","modified_gmt":"2026-08-07T21:35:28","slug":"whats-left-in-the-dust-of-a-massive-merger","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/editorial\/2019\/07\/22\/whats-left-in-the-dust-of-a-massive-merger\/","title":{"rendered":"What\u2019s left in the dust of a massive merger?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">There\u2019s a phrase \u2014 the mid-market squeeze \u2014 that encapsulates a truism in defense contracting: If you\u2019re not really big, and you\u2019re not categorically small, then you\u2019re going to have a harder time competing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">That is oversimplifying the issue, but there are practical reasons for this to be at least notionally true. Agencies and prime contractors both have set-aside goals that they\u2019re expected to meet in terms of divvying a percentage of contract dollars to small businesses \u2014 goals they notoriously miss. That makes a small business designation for a company a valuable marketing tactic when competing to be on the team of a prime or to win a contract direct from a defense agency (less common, but it happens). I wouldn\u2019t say it makes competition for small businesses simple, but it helps.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">At the other end of the spectrum, you of course have the prime contractors, who have both the benefit of a direct relationship with the customer and, at least for the top tier, the sheer scale to meet more requirements at a lower cost.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">That leaves the mid-tier suffering the Jan Brady effect.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">And it stands to get worse as some of the biggest mid-tier players \u2014 cognizant of the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.defensenews.com\/industry\/2019\/06\/17\/l3-harris-to-divest-significant-portion-of-business-post-merger\/\" target=_blank>squeeze<\/a> and the benefit of scale \u2014 combine. The challenges of the midmarket were definitely a factor in the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.defensenews.com\/interviews\/2018\/10\/15\/harris-and-l3-ceos-talk-merger-divestitures-and-why-we-all-should-have-seen-this-coming\/\" target=_blank>L3-Harris merger<\/a> that closed July 1, Bill Brown, chairman and CEO of the newly formed L3Harris Technologies, told me during an interview ahead of the Paris Air Show.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><a href=\"https:\/\/people.defensenews.com\/top-100\/\" target=_blank><b>Click here to see the Top 100 global defense companies.<\/b><\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The squeeze is driving consolidation and frankly is why there\u2019s not many mid-tier players left, he said. \u201cL3 and Harris were two; put them together and they become bigger.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">It\u2019s a simple concept that nonetheless stands to redefine what a mid-tier company actually is \u2014 or, more accurately, to create a whole new category unto itself. L3Harris still doesn\u2019t build platforms \u2014 Brown is quite adamant about that, as was Raytheon CEO Tom Kennedy when I spoke to him about the merger with United Technologies. That used to be a qualifier for the mid-tier \u2014 creating systems that often go in and on platforms built by the tier-one manufacturers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">But now, the fact that these merged companies are or will be large enough in terms of revenue to rival some of those tier-one defense manufacturers makes them quite different. What we have in L3Harris and the future Raytheon Technologies are companies with phenomenal scale and diversity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">We&#8217;ve watched a similar market shift among the IT services companies in the last few years, with medium companies combining to become mega providers that can price low, and offer more.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">So where does that leave the other mid-sized defense companies? Probably looking around to see who they could perhaps merge with to leapfrog to that new category \u2014 or close to it. That\u2019s not easy, though. As Brown noted, the pickings are becoming increasingly slim. And other factors matter: lack of market overlap, namely, to ensure a merger won\u2019t raise antitrust issues and will promote diversity to put together more comprehensive systems.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">If you look at this year\u2019s Top 100 list, it\u2019s hard to identify mergers that would fit the bill \u2014 though as Brown told me in June: \u201cI wouldn\u2019t have seen six months ago United and Raytheon.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Me either.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Plus, with big mergers come divestitures. L3Harris expects a \u201cpretty significant\u201d piece of business to be shed either as a sale or a spinoff in its first six months. One can figure the same from Raytheon and UTC, once the deal closes. That provides options for those mid-tier players looking to expand.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">And down the road? Who knows. These things often happen in cycles, where an era of consolidation makes companies a whole lot of money, and then a couple years later they break up.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">As Brown and L3Harris Chief Operating Officer Chris Kubasik <a href=\"https:\/\/www.defensenews.com\/industry\/2018\/10\/14\/meet-l3-harris-technologies-defense-firms-unveil-merger-plan\/\" target=_blank>told me<\/a>: \u201cIt\u2019s worked for bankers.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>If you\u2019re not really big, and you\u2019re not categorically small, then you\u2019re going to have a harder time competing.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":29436,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-noindex":"","_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-nofollow":"","_yoast_wpseo_canonical":"","_acf":"","_yoast_wpseo_primary_category":67,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","_smg_distribution_targets":[]},"categories":[160,162,67,12,36,17,25],"tags":[],"coauthors":[2572],"class_list":["post-16082","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-daily-news-roundup","category-digital-show-daily","category-editorial","category-industry","category-newsletters","category-opinion","category-top-100"],"acf":{"subheadline":"","legacy_arc_id":"CL7HLGH5QJHDNCUCQPUUUEVPB4","arc_canonical_url":"\/opinion\/editorial\/2019\/07\/22\/whats-left-in-the-dust-of-a-massive-merger\/","remove_feature_photo":false,"is_sponsored":false,"subtype":"","redirect_url":"","disable_inline_ads":false,"native_logo_pretext":"Presented By:"},"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v26.0 (Yoast SEO v28.1) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>What\u2019s left in the dust of a massive merger? - Defense News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"If you\u2019re not really big, and you\u2019re not categorically small, then you\u2019re going to have a harder time competing.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"noindex, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"What\u2019s left in the dust of a massive merger?\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"If you\u2019re not really big, and you\u2019re not categorically small, then you\u2019re going to have a harder time competing.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/editorial\/2019\/07\/22\/whats-left-in-the-dust-of-a-massive-merger\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Defense News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2019-07-22T09:30:30+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-08-07T21:35:28+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Jill Aitoro\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Jill Aitoro\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\n\t    \"@context\": \"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\n\t    \"@graph\": [\n\t        {\n\t            \"@type\": \"Article\",\n\t            \"@id\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/defensenews\\\/editorial\\\/2019\\\/07\\\/22\\\/whats-left-in-the-dust-of-a-massive-merger\\\/#article\",\n\t            \"isPartOf\": {\n\t                \"@id\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/defensenews\\\/editorial\\\/2019\\\/07\\\/22\\\/whats-left-in-the-dust-of-a-massive-merger\\\/\"\n\t            },\n\t            \"author\": {\n\t                \"name\": \"migration\",\n\t                \"@id\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/defensenews\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/cc76c831bb37a926738c8391fca7a3b1\"\n\t            },\n\t            \"headline\": \"What\u2019s left in the dust of a massive merger?\",\n\t            \"datePublished\": \"2019-07-22T09:30:30+00:00\",\n\t            \"dateModified\": \"2026-08-07T21:35:28+00:00\",\n\t            \"mainEntityOfPage\": {\n\t                \"@id\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/defensenews\\\/editorial\\\/2019\\\/07\\\/22\\\/whats-left-in-the-dust-of-a-massive-merger\\\/\"\n\t            },\n\t            \"wordCount\": 677,\n\t            \"commentCount\": 0,\n\t            \"publisher\": {\n\t                \"@id\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/defensenews\\\/#organization\"\n\t            },\n\t            \"image\": {\n\t                \"@id\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/defensenews\\\/editorial\\\/2019\\\/07\\\/22\\\/whats-left-in-the-dust-of-a-massive-merger\\\/#primaryimage\"\n\t            },\n\t            \"thumbnailUrl\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/08\\\/36_editorial_dust.jpg.jpg\",\n\t            \"articleSection\": [\n\t                \"Daily News Roundup\",\n\t                \"Digital Show Daily\",\n\t                \"Editorial\",\n\t                \"Industry\",\n\t                \"Newsletters\",\n\t                \"Opinion\",\n\t                \"Top 100 Companies\"\n\t            ],\n\t            \"inLanguage\": \"en-US\",\n\t            \"potentialAction\": [\n\t                {\n\t                    \"@type\": \"CommentAction\",\n\t                    \"name\": \"Comment\",\n\t                    \"target\": [\n\t                        \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/defensenews\\\/editorial\\\/2019\\\/07\\\/22\\\/whats-left-in-the-dust-of-a-massive-merger\\\/#respond\"\n\t                    ]\n\t                }\n\t            ]\n\t        },\n\t        {\n\t            \"@type\": \"WebPage\",\n\t            \"@id\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/defensenews\\\/editorial\\\/2019\\\/07\\\/22\\\/whats-left-in-the-dust-of-a-massive-merger\\\/\",\n\t            \"url\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/defensenews\\\/editorial\\\/2019\\\/07\\\/22\\\/whats-left-in-the-dust-of-a-massive-merger\\\/\",\n\t            \"name\": \"What\u2019s left in the dust of a massive merger? - Defense News\",\n\t            \"isPartOf\": {\n\t                \"@id\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/defensenews\\\/#website\"\n\t            },\n\t            \"primaryImageOfPage\": {\n\t                \"@id\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/defensenews\\\/editorial\\\/2019\\\/07\\\/22\\\/whats-left-in-the-dust-of-a-massive-merger\\\/#primaryimage\"\n\t            },\n\t            \"image\": {\n\t                \"@id\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/defensenews\\\/editorial\\\/2019\\\/07\\\/22\\\/whats-left-in-the-dust-of-a-massive-merger\\\/#primaryimage\"\n\t            },\n\t            \"thumbnailUrl\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/08\\\/36_editorial_dust.jpg.jpg\",\n\t            \"datePublished\": \"2019-07-22T09:30:30+00:00\",\n\t            \"dateModified\": \"2026-08-07T21:35:28+00:00\",\n\t            \"description\": \"If you\u2019re not really big, and you\u2019re not categorically small, then you\u2019re going to have a harder time competing.\",\n\t            \"breadcrumb\": {\n\t                \"@id\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/defensenews\\\/editorial\\\/2019\\\/07\\\/22\\\/whats-left-in-the-dust-of-a-massive-merger\\\/#breadcrumb\"\n\t            },\n\t            \"inLanguage\": \"en-US\",\n\t            \"potentialAction\": [\n\t                {\n\t                    \"@type\": \"ReadAction\",\n\t                    \"target\": [\n\t                        \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/defensenews\\\/editorial\\\/2019\\\/07\\\/22\\\/whats-left-in-the-dust-of-a-massive-merger\\\/\"\n\t                    ]\n\t                }\n\t            ]\n\t        },\n\t        {\n\t            \"@type\": \"ImageObject\",\n\t            \"inLanguage\": \"en-US\",\n\t            \"@id\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/defensenews\\\/editorial\\\/2019\\\/07\\\/22\\\/whats-left-in-the-dust-of-a-massive-merger\\\/#primaryimage\",\n\t            \"url\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/08\\\/36_editorial_dust.jpg.jpg\",\n\t            \"contentUrl\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/08\\\/36_editorial_dust.jpg.jpg\"\n\t        },\n\t        {\n\t            \"@type\": \"BreadcrumbList\",\n\t            \"@id\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/defensenews\\\/editorial\\\/2019\\\/07\\\/22\\\/whats-left-in-the-dust-of-a-massive-merger\\\/#breadcrumb\",\n\t            \"itemListElement\": [\n\t                {\n\t                    \"@type\": \"ListItem\",\n\t                    \"position\": 1,\n\t                    \"name\": \"Home\",\n\t                    \"item\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/defensenews\\\/\",\n\t                    \"ad_zone\": \"home\"\n\t                },\n\t                {\n\t                    \"@type\": \"ListItem\",\n\t                    \"position\": 2,\n\t                    \"name\": \"Editorial\",\n\t                    \"item\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/defensenews\\\/editorial\\\/\",\n\t                    \"ad_zone\": \"editorial\"\n\t                },\n\t                {\n\t                    \"@type\": \"ListItem\",\n\t                    \"position\": 3,\n\t                    \"name\": \"What\u2019s left in the dust of a massive merger?\"\n\t                }\n\t            ]\n\t        },\n\t        {\n\t            \"@type\": \"WebSite\",\n\t            \"@id\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/defensenews\\\/#website\",\n\t            \"url\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/defensenews\\\/\",\n\t            \"name\": \"Defense News\",\n\t            \"description\": \"Covering the politics, business and technology of defense | Defense News\",\n\t            \"publisher\": {\n\t                \"@id\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/defensenews\\\/#organization\"\n\t            },\n\t            \"potentialAction\": [\n\t                {\n\t                    \"@type\": \"SearchAction\",\n\t                    \"target\": {\n\t                        \"@type\": \"EntryPoint\",\n\t                        \"urlTemplate\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/defensenews\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"\n\t                    },\n\t                    \"query-input\": {\n\t                        \"@type\": \"PropertyValueSpecification\",\n\t                        \"valueRequired\": true,\n\t                        \"valueName\": \"search_term_string\"\n\t                    }\n\t                }\n\t            ],\n\t            \"inLanguage\": \"en-US\"\n\t        },\n\t        {\n\t            \"@type\": \"Organization\",\n\t            \"@id\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/defensenews\\\/#organization\",\n\t            \"name\": \"Defense News\",\n\t            \"url\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/defensenews\\\/\",\n\t            \"logo\": {\n\t                \"@type\": \"ImageObject\",\n\t                \"inLanguage\": \"en-US\",\n\t                \"@id\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/defensenews\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\",\n\t                \"url\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/06\\\/defensenews-logo-white.png\",\n\t                \"contentUrl\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/06\\\/defensenews-logo-white.png\",\n\t                \"caption\": \"Defense News\"\n\t            },\n\t            \"image\": {\n\t                \"@id\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/defensenews\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\"\n\t            }\n\t        },\n\t        {\n\t            \"@type\": \"Person\",\n\t            \"@id\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/defensenews\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/cc76c831bb37a926738c8391fca7a3b1\",\n\t            \"name\": \"migration\",\n\t            \"image\": {\n\t                \"@type\": \"ImageObject\",\n\t                \"inLanguage\": \"en-US\",\n\t                \"@id\": \"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/9e8d47be443ce94ce7fc357677b5f9c70235bb1f59e7267a102a74af58c04f59?s=96&d=mm&r=gcf4cb6ee0ec29e49e7a963234e4340ec\",\n\t                \"url\": \"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/9e8d47be443ce94ce7fc357677b5f9c70235bb1f59e7267a102a74af58c04f59?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\n\t                \"contentUrl\": \"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/9e8d47be443ce94ce7fc357677b5f9c70235bb1f59e7267a102a74af58c04f59?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\n\t                \"caption\": \"migration\"\n\t            },\n\t            \"url\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/defensenews\\\/author\\\/migration\\\/\"\n\t        }\n\t    ]\n\t}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"What\u2019s left in the dust of a massive merger? - Defense News","description":"If you\u2019re not really big, and you\u2019re not categorically small, then you\u2019re going to have a harder time competing.","robots":{"index":"noindex","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"What\u2019s left in the dust of a massive merger?","og_description":"If you\u2019re not really big, and you\u2019re not categorically small, then you\u2019re going to have a harder time competing.","og_url":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/editorial\/2019\/07\/22\/whats-left-in-the-dust-of-a-massive-merger\/","og_site_name":"Defense News","article_published_time":"2019-07-22T09:30:30+00:00","article_modified_time":"2026-08-07T21:35:28+00:00","author":"Jill Aitoro","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Jill Aitoro","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/editorial\/2019\/07\/22\/whats-left-in-the-dust-of-a-massive-merger\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/editorial\/2019\/07\/22\/whats-left-in-the-dust-of-a-massive-merger\/"},"author":{"name":"migration","@id":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/#\/schema\/person\/cc76c831bb37a926738c8391fca7a3b1"},"headline":"What\u2019s left in the dust of a massive merger?","datePublished":"2019-07-22T09:30:30+00:00","dateModified":"2026-08-07T21:35:28+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/editorial\/2019\/07\/22\/whats-left-in-the-dust-of-a-massive-merger\/"},"wordCount":677,"commentCount":0,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/editorial\/2019\/07\/22\/whats-left-in-the-dust-of-a-massive-merger\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/36_editorial_dust.jpg.jpg","articleSection":["Daily News Roundup","Digital Show Daily","Editorial","Industry","Newsletters","Opinion","Top 100 Companies"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/editorial\/2019\/07\/22\/whats-left-in-the-dust-of-a-massive-merger\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/editorial\/2019\/07\/22\/whats-left-in-the-dust-of-a-massive-merger\/","url":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/editorial\/2019\/07\/22\/whats-left-in-the-dust-of-a-massive-merger\/","name":"What\u2019s left in the dust of a massive merger? - Defense News","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/editorial\/2019\/07\/22\/whats-left-in-the-dust-of-a-massive-merger\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/editorial\/2019\/07\/22\/whats-left-in-the-dust-of-a-massive-merger\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/36_editorial_dust.jpg.jpg","datePublished":"2019-07-22T09:30:30+00:00","dateModified":"2026-08-07T21:35:28+00:00","description":"If you\u2019re not really big, and you\u2019re not categorically small, then you\u2019re going to have a harder time competing.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/editorial\/2019\/07\/22\/whats-left-in-the-dust-of-a-massive-merger\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/editorial\/2019\/07\/22\/whats-left-in-the-dust-of-a-massive-merger\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/editorial\/2019\/07\/22\/whats-left-in-the-dust-of-a-massive-merger\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/36_editorial_dust.jpg.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/36_editorial_dust.jpg.jpg"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/editorial\/2019\/07\/22\/whats-left-in-the-dust-of-a-massive-merger\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/","ad_zone":"home"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Editorial","item":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/editorial\/","ad_zone":"editorial"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"What\u2019s left in the dust of a massive merger?"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/#website","url":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/","name":"Defense News","description":"Covering the politics, business and technology of defense | Defense News","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/#organization","name":"Defense News","url":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/defensenews-logo-white.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/defensenews-logo-white.png","caption":"Defense News"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"}},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/#\/schema\/person\/cc76c831bb37a926738c8391fca7a3b1","name":"migration","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/9e8d47be443ce94ce7fc357677b5f9c70235bb1f59e7267a102a74af58c04f59?s=96&d=mm&r=gcf4cb6ee0ec29e49e7a963234e4340ec","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/9e8d47be443ce94ce7fc357677b5f9c70235bb1f59e7267a102a74af58c04f59?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/9e8d47be443ce94ce7fc357677b5f9c70235bb1f59e7267a102a74af58c04f59?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"migration"},"url":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/author\/migration\/"}]}},"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"distributor_meta":false,"distributor_terms":false,"distributor_media":false,"distributor_original_site_name":"Defense News","distributor_original_site_url":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews","push-errors":false,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/36_editorial_dust.jpg.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16082","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=16082"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16082\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":16088,"href":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16082\/revisions\/16088"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16082"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=16082"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=16082"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=16082"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}