14 May 03. Following the end of the Iraq War and the approval of further increases in defense spending, market place gossip suggest that further mergers and consolidations in the U.S. defense industry are nigh. Reports last week suggested that the ITT Defense and Aerospace segment is being considered by L-3 for a possible takeover. This would be a significant step by L-3 and bring with it the large slice of the UK’s BOWMAN programme. In addition the rumour that Raytheon is being looked at by General Dynamics for takeover since the departure of Dan Burnham. This would catapult GD into the top four behind Boeing, Northrop Grumman and Lockheed Martin.