The aerospace and defense sector operates within one of the most complex intersections of national security, government procurement, global supply chains, technology regulation, and rapidly evolving policy priorities.
Our fully integrated practice regularly advises companies and investors in the sector on their largest and most difficult challenges by delivering guidance across areas such as:
National security and industrial security.
Government contracts and procurement.
Export controls, foreign military sales, ITAR, CUI, and sanctions.
CFIUS and foreign direct investment controls.
Technology, cyber, and data governance.
Internal investigations, audits, and white collar defense.
Commercial transactions, joint ventures, and M&A.
Legislative, policy, and regulatory strategy.
Resolution of disputes including via litigation, arbitration, and other processes.
Our global platform allows us to support OEMs, prime contractors, suppliers, emerging-technology companies, private equity sponsors, integrators, and international partners across the aerospace and defense ecosystem. Clients in this industry rely on us for:
Integrated national security, government contracts, commercial, policy, dispute resolution capability.
Deep industrial-security, export-control fluency, and secure data storage (DCSA, FOCI, NISPOM, ITAR and EAR).
Real-world experience from former industry executives, regulators, and policymakers.
Practical solutions that enable growth, market entry, and mission success.
Global reach supporting complex cross-border operations and supply chains.
Our comprehensive suite of services to the aerospace and defense industry includes:
National Security Regulatory Acumen
We provide guidance on the full spectrum of national security regulations:
DCSA
FOCI
NISPOM
Export Controls
Cross-Border Investment
Supply Chain Security
Foreign Military Sales
Our lawyers and advisors provide end-to-end support across the National Industrial Security Program (NISP) environment:
FOCI mitigation: SSAs, SCAs, Proxy Agreements, and complex governance structures.
DCSA engagement: Pre-and post-assessment support, rating remediation, and corrective-action strategies.
Foreign investment and national-security reviews: CFIUS, Team Telecom, global investment restrictions, and mitigation.
Sensitive-information operations: Classified, CUI, export-controlled, and proprietary data-handling frameworks for hybrid commercial and government environments.
Supply chain security, due diligence, and resilience.
Our team includes former industry executives, regulators, prosecutors, law enforcement, and military and government officials who understand the regulatory, operational, and commercial realities clients face.
Commercial and Transactional Support
We help clients achieve commercial goals alongside national-security requirements. This includes:
Cross-border joint ventures and industrial partnerships.
Aerospace and defense M&A (classified, export-controlled, or foreign-owned assets).
Licensing frameworks, technology-sharing arrangements, and IP protection.
Supply-chain diversification and on/off-boarding strategies.
Foreign customer engagements, offset strategy, and global market-access issues.
Commercial contracting for systems, components, sustainment, and aftermarket services.
Dispute avoidance and risk mitigation strategies relating to commercial contracts and contracting policies.
Our advice is grounded in real-world experience and practical, business-friendly execution, and is informed by industry experience and a deep understanding of how commercial and national security requirements intersect.
Strategic Policy and Lobbying Advantage
We help clients gain strategic advantage through our government affairs advisors who combine decades of frontline policy, legislative, and defense experience. We seamlessly work across the platform to provide cutting edge advice on congressional and executive branch engagement and policymaking, appropriations, and lobbying. Our team regularly advises on:
NDAA cycles, appropriations, and congressional oversight.
Defense-policy direction and industrial-based initiatives.
Legislative strategy affecting export controls, supply-chain security, and foreign investment.
Engagement with committees, leadership, and key decision-makers.
Interagency and Technology-Security Experience
In the national security arena, our team leverages decades of experience and close working relationships with policymakers and leaders across all federal defense and national security agencies and authorities. We use this experience and acumen to help our clients achieve success in:
Interagency processes involving national security agencies, the White House, National Security Council, and Departments of War, State, Commerce, Treasury, Energy, Justice, and Homeland Security as well as NASA, Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Federal Communications Commission.
Export controls, internal investigations, technology control plans, CFIUS, critical technologies, R&D, and supply-chain resilience.
Legislative engagement around sensitive and classified programs.
Anticipating and navigating rapidly shifting policy trends.
Government Contracts Capability
FAR and DFARS
Claims
Subcontracts
Procurement Strategy
Our government-contracts team advises aerospace and defense clients across the procurement lifecycle, including:
Claims and disputes, equitable adjustments, REAs, and contract interpretation.
Prime and subcontract negotiation, flow-down management, and supply-chain contracting.
Cost and pricing, TINA compliance, audits, and business-system adequacy.
Socioeconomic programs, cybersecurity clauses, data rights, and IP strategy.
Procurement IDIQ and OTA utilization, teaming agreements, joint ventures, and performance risk mitigation.
Our advisors bring a strong practical foundation to the group—particularly for clients navigating hybrid commercial–government portfolios, aircraft and systems integration, sustainment programs, and high-stakes contracting environments.
On 7 January 2025, President Donald Trump issued an executive order (EO) aimed at limiting and preventing certain large defense contractors from conducting stock buybacks, issuing dividends, and awarding executive compensation.
The One Big Beautiful Bill Act makes major changes to the Internal Revenue Code’s clean energy tax provisions, particularly to the provisions that were extended, expanded, and established as part of the 2022 Inflation Reduction Act.
While the pace of amendments and rule changes from the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) slowed in 2025 with the change in presidential administration and the appointment of new SEC Chair Paul S. Atkins, we have seen fundamental changes in policy and other developments that public companies will need to understand as they prepare for their 2025 Form 10-K and 2026 proxy season.
In this article, Dr. Jan Boeing and Arnaud Dobelle outline the key milestones of the new regulatory framework, its interplay with financial sector rules such as DORA and PSD2, and what the upcoming Digital Omnibus proposal means for organisations deploying AI in Europe.
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