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MARK S. NEWMAN - DRS TECHNOLOGIES, INC. (DRS)
CEO Interview - published 02/05/2007
MARK S. NEWMAN is Chairman of the Board, President and Chief Executive Officer
of DRS Technologies, Inc. He joined the company in 1973, four years after its
founding, and became President and CEO in 1994, after serving many years as the
company's Chief Financial Officer. He was named a Director in 1988, and in 1995,
was elected Chairman of the Board. Under Mr. Newman's leadership, DRS has become
an established market leader on several of the most important 21st century
military platforms and holds a key position in the markets it serves. Mr. Newman
is active with many important professional organizations. He is a member on the
Board of Governors of the Aerospace Industries Association and a Director on the
Boards of Business Executives for National Security and the New Jersey
Technology Council. He also serves as a member of the Navy League of the United
States, the National Defense Industrial Association, the Association of the U.S.
Army and the Surface Navy Association, among other professional affiliations. He
is a past Chairman of the American Electronics Association. Mr. Newman is also a
Director on the Boards of Congoleum Corporation, Refac Optical Group and EFJ,
Inc. Mr. Newman earned a Bachelor's degree in Economics from the State
University of New York at Binghamton and a Master of Business Administration
degree in Financial Management from Pace University. He is also a Certified
Public Accountant. Mr. Newman has received numerous awards and honors. He is a
recipient of the RADM John J. Bergen Industry Award, presented by the Navy
League of the United States, as well as the Marine Corps Scholarship Foundation
Semper Fidelis Award. Other honors include induction into the New Jersey High-
Tech Hall of Fame and the Tri-County Scholarship Foundation Hall of Fame. He is
also a past winner of the Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year Award.
SECTOR AEROSPACE/DEFENSE
TWST: Would you give us a brief historical sketch of the company and a picture
of the things you're doing at the present time?
Mr. Newman: We are a leading provider of defense technology systems and
services. We support all branches of the US military and intelligence agencies,
all the major aerospace and defense contractors, what we call prime contractors,
and international military forces. So it's a huge customer base. We are on a
March 31 fiscal year, so if you look at our guidance to Wall Street for this
year, revenue guidance is in the $2.70-$2.75 billion range for the fiscal year
ending in March. We have an enterprise value of about $4 billion, and we employ
10,000 people in about 24 states in the US, plus Canada and the United Kingdom.
From a historical perspective, the company has been in business since 1969. We
started as a Navy contractor from scratch, basically with just a few employees,
and then began doing some study work in antisubmarine warfare and acoustics
signal processing. That led to the growth of the company through mostly Navy
contracts. We took the company public in 1981 and continued to grow through the
1980s to about only $70 million in annual revenue, but we basically grew from
nothing to $70 million.
In the early 1990s, after the Berlin Wall had come down in 1989, the business
slowed. The company retrenched itself, and then in 1993, we took a hard look at
where we were going to go and how we were going to survive in the industry,
because the industry was consolidating at that time. If we were going to survive
in the industry, we had to become what we termed a "mid-tier" defense technology
leader. In those days, we said mid-tier could be about $500 million in annual
revenue, and we were about $60 million then. So that was a tall order to get to
that point, but we said we were going to accomplish it through a combination of
acquisitions and internal organic growth. That is what we set out to do.
We probably have bought 30 companies since the early 1990s, and that, combined
with some very good organic growth, has taken us to the point we're at now. In
the early days, the vast majority of our business was with the Navy, probably
80%. Now, we're divided pretty well between all branches of the armed forces and
the intelligence world, too. One point of interest is that we branched out
beyond military spending into homeland defense, and we think that is going to be
a good part of our business going forward.
If you looked at the technologies that we have today, we're a world leader in
thermal imaging technologies, more commonly known as night vision. We make some
of the most advanced night vision equipment for everything from a soldier's
rifle sight to big target acquisition systems that you find on aircraft or heavy
ground vehicles, such as Bradley Fighting Vehicles and other tanks. We're one of
the largest producers in the world of very ultra rugged computers for the
battlefield, and we're on all of the major battlefield digitization programs. We
make more Naval displays than anybody else in the world. If you are on a Navy
ship, and you needed to see radar and sonar information maps, you would do that
on one of our displays. And I already mentioned intelligence as another area
where we are leaders. We're pretty big in communications intelligence, signal
intelligence, and now we're also involved with service and support contracts
involving satellite communications. We're a very highly diversified company.
Essentially, we've gone from a little Navy contractor to a very diversified,
high-tech defense company.
TWST: Apart from the external circumstances that helped you, what is it about
the company internally that has made it so successful?
Mr. Newman: One of the interesting things about DRS is that most small companies
start out as subcontractors in this business, whereas DRS started out as a prime
contractor. We were tiny, but we sold directly to the government. Then, as we
began to grow the business, we always did it from the point of view of our end
user. So we became a mini-prime contractor because we were so tiny. We've placed
a huge emphasis throughout the whole history of the company on people - people
development, hiring the best possible people, and always preparing for the next
stage of growth so that we would have those people on board that could help take
the company to the next stage of growth.
We have been very fortunate in that we've been able to attract top scientists
and engineers as well as very experienced management talent, to the company with
everybody having one single purpose to do an incredible job for the men and
women in uniform. It is a focus that has been able to propel us. If I had to
look to what has made us special, it would have to be our people. Obviously,
with good people you eventually develop good technology, so there is no question
we became a leader in most of the fields that we're in because of our people. We
always had the vision of being number one or two in our fields. In the defense
area, that isn't that difficult, because there are limited contracts for any one
particular program. So, if you can get a good position on a program, you can
continue to develop that position and become a leader in the things you do.
TWST: Would you go further in describing the competitive landscape?
Mr. Newman: It's highly competitive in that you've got a handful of large prime
contractors who can do everything. We find ourselves competing with all of the
major primes, but also teaming with them. So, you align yourself with different
companies as they go after programs. In areas where we are a subcontractor, we
tend to become a partner with the prime. In areas where we prime (and we prime
about 50% of the time), then we go up against the vision of all of these large
companies, as well as some smaller companies. You have to write a top-flight
proposal, you have to have the right technical approach, and you have to have
the right pricing. So we've always tried to keep our cost in line and our
technology advanced so we could go out and win our lion's share of the programs
we compete for.
I think we never looked at our situation as a tiny company going up against a
big company. We always looked at it as folks in our business going up against
folks in the competitor's business, and how we could provide the best solution.
Although it's highly competitive, there aren't that many defense contractors in
the world. There are a lot of tiny support contractors, but when you think about
DRS at our size now, $2.7 billion in annual revenues, we're probably in the top
25 of defense companies in the world and probably in the top 15 in the United
States. It's a fairly small landscape in which you're competing. So you just
have to be nimble, you have to have the best solution, and you have to do a good
job for your customers.
TWST: Regarding the technology that you supply, approximately how much is
legacy, how much is new, and how much combines legacy and new things?
Mr. Newman: I would say that roughly 75% of our business would be tied to legacy
technologies or programs, or the upgrading of legacy platforms or upgrading the
systems that are going to go on legacy platforms. I would say the other 25% is
not entirely new. So, for example, we've won a nice position with Boeing on the
new Strategic Border Initiative and that is a whole new marketplace for us. But
even in that marketplace, we will be drawing upon our knowledge of systems and
sensors that are being used in military applications right now. But we get our
huge chunk of R&D dollars, and we're always working on items for the future. So
you have a very healthy mix.
TWST: Does your R&D occasionally uncover things that weren't the original
intention of the R&D?
Mr. Newman: Our R&D tends to focus on improved applications in what we're doing.
So sometimes what we find is we'll develop a solution that is even better than
the solution we probably were going to look toward, but it's not the kind of
thing where we are working on a project and all of a sudden we discover the cure
for cancer. It's more an evolutionary process of taking our existing
technologies and improving on them. For example, if you're talking about a
thermal imaging system, it's how to get higher resolution and more capability
out of that kind of technology and then to look at new types of technologies
that could be applied to that challenge.
We're a big leader right now in the world of permanent magnet motors, which is
an advanced type of motor that runs very efficiently, and it has application in
a lot of places. We developed it originally for Navy ship capabilities to drive
the propulsion system of the new classes of ships, but we found that we could
make smaller versions of the motor that could be used in the oil exploration
field, where they need this kind of technology. So we took a kernel and then
developed that into a family of products. We find that that can be done. But we
generally are more involved with applied technology than in an initial kind
where we would just dream up an idea and start from scratch.
TWST: Would you give us an idea of the outlook for the industry and for DRS in
particular, both short- and long-term?
Mr. Newman: The industry is very strong right now. Defense budgets are high, and
I think they will stay high for many years to come. We have a very nice mix of
Army business, along with business from all the other branches of service. Our
biggest chunk right now happens to be Army, and that's where a lot of money is
being spent - in upgrading Army equipment and platforms that are getting a lot
of use. The equipment is being used up in theater. So we've got a lot of work
that we're doing to upgrade, enhance and refurbish a lot of different systems.
In the near term, in the next year or two, I think you're going to see some very
healthy organic growth based on where defense budgets are right now. In the
long-term, I think you're going to see steady growth in defense spending. It is
not a big portion of GDP right now, so I don't think one needs to be compelled
to cut it, and the kinds of threats we're facing are going to be ongoing for
many years to come. So I think it's a good environment to be in. We're seeing a
relatively healthy business certainly over the next five years.
TWST: Do you think that more and more new technologies will develop to deal with
this sort of scatter-gun approach of the terrorists around the world, small
groups of people doing lots of harm in different places and almost randomly?
Mr. Newman: I think that's what the military is working on right now. It's what
we call asymmetric warfare. You're no longer going up against a big army on the
other side trying to defend a country, but you're dealing with terrorist
operations. So there are a lot of technologies that are being developed to deal
with that. But by the same token, what we found was going into different
countries you need a solid ground force to keep the peace. We're finding
difficulties now in trying to do that because you don't have a uniform formation
of forces that our troops are facing. So, I think what you're seeing is an
evolutionary process that's taking place in order to understand the threat that
we're seeing and how to deal with or counter those threats. I think that is
going to evolve in the future. But while you're doing that, you can't eliminate
the armed forces. You've got to change the way they do business, still keeping
the core structure necessary to deal with a conflict with another large country
or large country's forces should that arise. So, it's a dual challenge that
we're looking at - how to deal with the current threat and how to deal with
tomorrow's threat, as well as how to think about the threat we'll be facing in
25 or 30 years. It's a huge task, and the military has been trying to assess
that.
TWST: What are the key items on your strategic agenda as you look out over the
year and future?
Mr. Newman: From a strategic standpoint, we've decided to remain a high-tech
supplier, as opposed to a platform builder. What we want to do is develop the
technologies that can be used to enhance any platform, whether it is today's
platform or a future platform. For example, if the world goes toward unmanned
aerial vehicles, we want to make sure that we have a family of sensor products
that could support any family of unmanned vehicles. We want to make sure that we
stay two steps ahead of the competition in technology, so that we can apply that
technology where it's needed.
TWST: What will you be looking for in acquisitions?
Mr. Newman: At this point, we did a large acquisition last January. We closed
it, in fact, on January 31, 2006. That company was the equivalent of buying 14
individual companies. The company was called Engineered Support Systems. What we
told Wall Street at the time was we were going to spend the next 12-18 months
integrating that business into the rest of our business and then concentrate on
paying down debt to strengthen the balance sheet. So that is where we've been
focused.
We've taken 14 companies now and turned them into seven operating entities,
divided between two business segments. We're operating the total company now as
four business segments, and we're concentrating on consolidation and cost
reduction, which we've achieved, and on integrating these businesses with the
rest of the company. All the while, we are working on building an internal
culture in the company where everyone feels like they're a part of one entity.
That is where we've been focused.
From this point on, as we look at acquisitions we see the strategy more as
adding capability to the different areas in which we are currently working. We
see the concept of bolt-on acquisitions going forward, if the right
opportunities at the right prices surface. In the meantime, we have very healthy
organic growth. We're achieving growth in the low double-digit percentages now,
and we believe that as time goes on, we can put other businesses together that
will add to the capabilities we currently have. We've never been a company that
just felt it had to go out and buy everything that wasn't nailed down. We've
always focused on what we can acquire to enhance our current product mix.
TWST: What for you are the keys to cost reduction?
Mr. Newman: First, we work on the supply chain, which is very important. We
brought in key people focused on supply chain management, so that we can lower
our material costs, which tend to be a big chunk of our overall cost. Secondly,
we work on overhead and G&A costs. We do that through consolidation, through
adding efficiency to existing operations that we have, and then we're always
looking at the number of people that we have either running businesses or
operating within the business. As you become more efficient, you don't need as
many people. If you take a look at last year, we probably reduced the head count
at DRS by 300 or 400 people, which has produced some cost efficiencies. When you
produce cost efficiencies, ultimately you become more competitive so that you
can win more programs, and that's exactly what we've done.
TWST: Looking ahead, what problems might you worry about?
Mr. Newman: The biggest thing we worry about concerns the products that you're
delivering and if they are going to work when they should every time. So you
make sure that people are all aligned with your concept of quality, which I
believe we are, so that the product that ends up in the hands of the serviceman
or woman is going to be the best possible product that they could get at that
time. You make sure that everybody is aligned with that common vision.
We also want to make sure that we continue to generate the cash that we need to
generate, so that we can pay down debt. I think this is important in
strengthening the balance sheet, which will be good for our future. That is
something we work toward. It's basically a matter of keeping our costs in line
and staying competitive.
We also have the ongoing competitive pressure of making sure that your
technology is the best technology and that you're investing in the right areas
of R&D, so that you can develop the products of the future. You want to make
sure that when the next generation of products is bid or the next programs are
up for bid that you can win a fair share of them. Right now, we're pretty well
set in terms of our business base. We've booked more this year than we ever have
in the history of the company. Our book-to-bill ratio as of the end of our last
quarter, which was September 30, was about 1.27 to 1. So, we're booking a lot
more than we're shipping right now, which is building a very strong backlog. Our
backlog was over $2.7 billion at the end of September. So, we want to make sure
that we continue to book programs and keep that backlog at a solid level so that
we can continue to grow.
TWST: Let's say there were a product of yours that was being used and it was
found that it was not 100%, that there was some problems. How quickly can you
turn things around?
Mr. Newman: If we find a problem with anything, we jump on it right away, and we
go through an analysis of what went wrong. Is it an easy fix? Is it a hard fix?
Was there something wrong with the spec, so that the spec should have been
changed? So it depends on what the problem would be. Some things you can turn
around very quickly. Today, you can see a fix and then jump on it; other times
it could mean a redesign of a product. We don't see too many of those, but when
you're under pressure to ship products quickly, not just from the corporation's
point of view, but also from the military's point of view, they could expect one
thing and then find that they need to change it a little bit. So, you have to
work with the customer to make the changes. But I would say for the most part,
everything that is shipped, once it gets shipped, works very well, and if there
is a problem, it usually comes about because something is being used in a way
that wasn't contemplated originally. In that case, you would have to enhance the
product.
TWST: What would you reasonably expect DRS Technologies to look like in about
three years?
Mr. Newman: Barring any acquisition, I would say that we would continue to grow
6%-8% organically. I think we'll continue to see that kind of growth in that
three-year time frame and at the same time pay down debt to strengthen the
balance sheet, which will then generate additional profit. We would expect to
see profits climbing nicely, sales climbing nicely, and all the while improving
the culture and the abilities of the company to compete in the future. I also
would see us growing our homeland security or homeland defense business. That is
going to become a larger part of the company. I think that probably within three
years time, we're going to see our Navy business growing a bit more, as some of
these new ships begin to be built, and we have secured a big position on all of
these new ships. It will be that combination of things.
TWST: Since you've have done so much, what would improving the culture mean to
you?
Mr. Newman: To me, it's getting to all the new people who have joined the
company. In the last year, we've added over 3,000 people to the corporation, and
many of those people were part of companies that had a long legacy. So we try to
reach those operations as quickly as possible to give them a feeling for who DRS
is. We've created, for example, an ambassador program throughout the
corporation, where we have various people in each operation, and we have over 40
locations, tapping into the pulse of what makes each of these operations run,
and then reporting on interesting things. So that brings people together. They
hear stories, technologies, products, people and information about all the
different parts of the company, and they feel that they're a part of one great
company. We try to enhance the concept of how can they make a difference to
themselves, their communities and certainly to our important customers. We're
trying to get everybody focused in that direction, because it's very easy when
you sit in the corporate office to just assume everybody is thinking the way you
are.
It takes a concerted effort of getting out and meeting everybody and letting
them know who we are. In fact, I personally go out to visit employees at our
plants. I try within a year's time to visit most of the operations that we have
just to talk to people at town hall meetings, hear what's on their minds, and
let them know that they are a part of something special. You can forget that
sometimes when you're just sitting in an office isolated, because what you think
everybody is thinking isn't necessarily what everybody is thinking. So you've
got to go out there and verbalize to people what you're thinking, and then see
whether they agree or disagree. It's a matter of putting a face of the
corporation to all the individuals in the company, and that's an ongoing thing.
I don't think that ever stops in a corporation.
TWST: Would you tell us about your own background and expertise and the same for
one or two of your colleagues?
Mr. Newman: My background is actually finance. I started my life as an
accountant, a CPA, working for what is now called KPMG, but in those days was
called Peat Marwick. I came to DRS as a young man in 1973. We had 32 people on
top of a General Electric appliance store in a suburb of New York called Mount
Vernon. That was the company I joined in 1973, and I have spent my entire career
working to build this company. I've basically learned all the aspects of defense
contracting from the ground floor up. It's working with all the people that we
started bringing into the company, and if we didn't bring them in, we brought in
consultants. I learned from consultants. From an educational standpoint, I have
a Bachelor's degree in Economics, an MBA in Financial Management, and I'm a CPA.
However, I spent my whole life essentially working in the defense industry for
one company and growing it. The reason I ended up in this company was my dad had
founded the company, while I was in college, and we got talking one day. He
needed some help with the books, so I said, "All right, I'll give you a little
time, and let me see if I can help you," and I never left.
Rich Schneider, our CFO, is also a Peat Marwick alumni, or KPMG alumni. But we
were in different offices, and we didn't know each other then. He ended up
leaving Peat Marwick and working for various defense contractors, ultimately
with a company called NAI Technologies, which DRS acquired in 1999. I was so
impressed with him that I asked him to be the CFO of our corporation, and he
stayed on and has done an incredible job. He has a degree from Wharton School of
Business, lots of experience in the industry - probably 30 years experience now
- and has done everything from financial management to acquisitions and cash
management. He knows financial reporting, he knows banking, and he has been an
incredible addition to the team.
Bob Mehmel, who is our Chief Operating Officer, came to us about five years ago.
He has over 20 years of experience in the defense industry. He was an old Loral
guy, who then ended up moving to Lockheed Martin when Loral was acquired by
Lockheed Martin. Then, when Frank Lanza spun off L-3 Communications from
Lockheed, he went with the L-3 group. We brought Bob in originally to do
strategic planning and operations management - what some people would term
corporate development - because he has a strong background in acquisitions. Last
year, we promoted him to Chief Operating Officer after our last Chief Operating
Officer retired about two years ago, and he is doing an incredible job. He is
probably one of the smartest people that I've ever met in this industry. He is a
very, very sharp guy.
Our General Counsel is Nina Dunn. She was a partner in a law firm prior to
joining DRS and worked with DRS for many years. Then she joined us about 10
years ago, and she's built a great legal department.
Mike Bowman, who runs our Washington operations, retired from the Navy as a
three-star Admiral. He was a fighter pilot, but more important to us, had done
two stints working with Congress. Once when he was a Captain, he was the Navy-
Senate liaison and then as an Admiral, he became the Legislative Affairs Officer
for the United States Navy. So aside from his last job, which was the Commander
of the Naval Air Force, Pacific Fleet, he had a lot of experience in dealing
with the Hill in Washington and has been an incredible addition to the team. In
five years, he has built a very effective Washington presence for the company.
So, I think we have a key management group in the corporate office. We run the
company through four operating segments: the C4I, RSTA or Reconnaissance,
Surveillance & Target Acquisition, Technical Services, and Sustainment Systems
Segments. We have a President that runs each of those segments who then reports
to Bob Mehmel.
So, for example, we have Steve Schorer, who came to us from L-3 a number of
years ago to run our C4I business. He had a very solid background before L-3
with AlliedSignal, and before that had careers at Lockheed Martin, Hughes
Aircraft and Raytheon. He has a strong technical background, and he's a very,
very smart guy.
Jimmy Baird, who runs our RSTA Segment, spent most of his career with Texas
Instruments. Then, when we acquired the focal plane array business of Texas
Instruments, he joined us to run our Infrared Technologies business in Dallas
and ultimately became President of RSTA. Just recently, we carved out that
business as a separate segment.
Tom Cornwell, who is President of our Sustainment Systems Segment. He formerly
was an Engineered Support Systems manager and had come with our acquisition of
Engineered Support. Earlier, he was President and CEO of Engineered Air Systems,
a subsidiary of Engineered Support Systems. He has probably more than 20 years
of experience in the industry.
Finally, we've got the Technical Services Segment and a gentleman by the name of
Mitch Rambler who runs that. He has over 25 years of experience. He is a PhD and
came to us with our acquisition of Engineered Support Systems, but actually had
just joined that company prior to the acquisition. I think he had joined them in
December 2005, and we closed on the acquisition in January 2006. He is doing a
very effective job. I believe that we have a very well rounded group of people,
where we can balance legal, technical and military backgrounds with financial,
and that is a great formula for success.
TWST: I would guess that you're one company that might feel it is pretty well
understood by the Street.
Mr. Newman: Yes. I think that we're trying to simplify the story. What we are
finding is the more things you make, the harder it is to explain the business. I
think the Street is starting to understand who we are. The fact that we set out
a strategy to become a leading mid-tier defense technology company is now well
understood. They see us as being one of a handful of companies that bridge the
gap between the very large primes and the small specialty companies. So, when
you get into the subsystems level and you get below what we call platforms, we
can bring very cost-effective, innovative solutions to a lot of problems.
TWST: Let's say just hypothetically that there was an administration in
Washington that wasn't in full sympathy with the way things are being done now.
How long would that take to change what you're doing? You have lots of things
locked into place with the government, so how long would it take for things to
be altered?
Mr. Newman: I think what I would do is take a look at what was said when
President Bush was originally campaigning for his first term in office. What was
being talked about was a transformation of the military. They were talking about
skipping a generation of weapons and just leaping into the future. It was an
interesting concept, because they saw that throughout the Clinton years, they
had basically undercapitalized the military by about $100 billion a year. So
what that meant was that the nation would either have to replace a lot of very
old equipment or it could instead focus on what the military should do in the
future. The administration was smart to be thinking about asymmetric warfare at
that time and skip focusing on supplying the old equipment. But then we found
ourselves in a war, and if you remember what Donald Rumsfeld said, which was
that you go to war with what you've got, that's what they did.
They also found that when our military forces were operating in various cities
and towns, having heavy armor, for example, was protecting soldiers more than
light vehicles. They discovered that they just couldn't skip a generation of
weapon systems and that weaponry needs to evolve. It takes time to change
tactics and doctrines. So I don't think anything happens as quickly as one would
like to suppose.
Even with a change of administration in a couple of years, I don't think you're
going to see radical changes to the military structure. What you have are a lot
of smart people who are thinking about problems, both civilians and military, as
well as politicians. They all want the best for the man and woman in uniform,
and they want to keep the country strong. They're trying to figure out the best
way to do it and trying to work together to help solve those problems, and
industry plays a role in that.
I don't think you'll see very radical changes. I think you'll see more of an
evolutionary process, and I don't see any reason why that would change with
administrations or control in Congress. I like to remind people that there are
patriots on both sides of the aisle. These are people that care about the
country. Sometimes you hear divergent views from people on the fringes of both
sides, but for the most part, I think Congressmen and women are relatively
moderate, and they want what's best for the United States.
TWST: What would be the two or three best reasons for the long-term investor to
take a very close look at DRS Technologies?
Mr. Newman: The first reason is that we're well positioned in what we call the
"sweet spot" of the defense budget. We have technology solutions that are
desired right now by all branches of the armed forces. They're coming to us for
a lot of products and support. I think we're highly diversified with both
product and service offerings and also are diversified in our customer base. So
there isn't any one significant part of the defense budget that plays a huge
role in our business. In fact, we're so diversified that our top 10 programs are
only about 25% of our total annual revenues, and our largest program is probably
less than 4% of our business. So diversification is very important.
Not only are we experiencing organic growth, but we also have a very good
acquisition track record, we know how to assess companies, we know how to
acquire companies and we know how to integrate them. It's a good bet that if we
get involved with a business in the future, we're going to know how to turn it
into something better than it was when we started with it. Finally, we have a
very experienced and conservative management team, and we're always looking for
new and smart ways to continue to deliver value to stockholders. I think we're a
good company.
TWST: Is there anything that you would like to add, particularly regarding
strategies and long-term objectives?
Mr. Newman: Our long-term objective is to continue to build DRS, so that it can
be one of the key players in the defense industry for many years to come.
Regarding growth strategies, we expect to continue to accomplish that through a
combination of organic growth and acquisition.
TWST: Do you want to add anything?
Mr. Newman: I think the combination of those strategies, along with maintaining
a good management team, is going to continue to be a good formula for success
for us.
TWST: Thank you. (MC)
MARK S. NEWMAN
Chairman, President & CEO
DRS Technologies, Inc.
5 Sylvan Way
Parsippany, NJ 07054
(973) 898-1500
(973) 898-4730 FAX
www.drs.com
Investor Relations Contacts:
Patricia M. Williamson
VP, Corporate Communications & Investor Relations
(973) 898-6025
e-mail: p.williamson@drs.com
Patrick Fuhrmann
Manager, Investor Relations
(973) 451-3530
e-mail: fuhrmann@drs.com
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