Defence industry

WASHINGTON — The world’s two largest defense companies have joined a growing number of American industrial titans pausing their political donations after Lockheed Martin and Boeing announced Wednesday they would halt contributions following the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. capitol. A third major defense contractor, BAE Systems, also announced Wednesday that it was pausing political spending in the U.S.

Those three join other defense prime contractors, including Northrop Grumman, Raytheon Technologies, Leidos and Hunting Ingalls Industries, which all announced earlier this week they would reexamine political donations. The announcements, which have now come from six of the 10 largest U.S. based defense contractors, arrived as thousands of National Guardsmen are preparing to lock down Washington to ensure a similar attack does not occur during the inauguration of president-elect Joe Biden....MORE