Sequestration offers opportunities for industry.

• Position: Readers' Forum - Geographic overview - Letter to the editor

* According to the most recent estimates provided by the Office of Management and Budget, after a 1 percent cut in defense spending in 2013, the budget is projected to grow each year through 2017, at rates ranging from 1.8 to 2.3 percent annually. And the budget will be larger than it was in the final years of the Bush administration.

And these projected increases do not include overseas contingency operations.

The president and defense secretary are writing efficiency and better buying practices into the government books as policy, and it means there is simply a new benchmark for all industry companies to meet and to compete against. The rules apply to everyone, and thus no one could be at any comparative disadvantage at all. In fact, it provides an opportunity for any company to jump out ahead of the pack, meet the "new demand" ahead of their peers, and claim previously unknown market share. This is opportunity unlike any industry has seen in years, and it will be fed by a budget that is staggeringly large, and growing.

And whether sequestration occurs or not (it won't), the military's higher performance and delivery standards will drive technological innovation, not stifle it. Corresponding efficiencies will be driven in both technology procurement and research and development, and business practices will meet an ever-evolving military customer with ever-changing operational needs. Because as technical solutions become increasingly sophisticated through innovation, derivative military needs will increase in number and kind. And value.

As the troops move home and as operational (not budgetary) needs require greater investment in cyber and surveillance technologies, the Defense Department will increasingly outsource technology development to industry. Airmen, Marines, sailors and soldiers will never be the ones creating the cutting edge technologies needed to execute operations in the 21st century and beyond. And companies will find themselves amidst incredible opportunity to meet the new demand.

Also part of this new acquisition reality are policy mandates requiring energy efficient solutions across the board in facilities, in fuels for planes, trains, and automobiles, in weapon systems and in subsystem parts. This is not speculation, this is happening now and it means an entirely new product line for industry to provide. Want contracts to upgrade entire fleets and wings? You'll have them.

What we are looking at now is a new industry...