Complexity is our design language.
Reed-Frank Group operates where defense procurement, government industrial policy, and market entry collide. We do not just provide analysis. We provide alignment.
The firm’s principal developed and delivered a novel application of industrial cooperation frameworks that structured industrial participation credits exceeding $1 billion under active competitive conditions. That methodology continues to produce value across active mandates and is increasingly recognized in how comparable programs are designed. What others attempt to replicate through scale, we deliver through disciplined, judgment-based positioning. Prior mandates have encompassed a contested multinational fighter competition and the simultaneous management of commercial, governmental, and prime contractor stakeholders.
RFG was founded in 2024 at a specific inflection point: the moment when access to powerful analytical tools negated the premium once charged by established advisory firms, and when multi-client conflicts of interest became impossible to ignore. Value is no longer found in the report. It is found in the read. The constraint is not access to information. It is knowing how it will be interpreted by the counterparty before it is presented. The advisory model that answers this shift is principal-led, conflict-free, and built on judgment and perspective developed from within these frameworks at the program level: not just in how they are structured, but in how they are read by the parties they are designed to govern.
We do not simply enter markets. We structure the terms of their success.
The mandates that reach RFG rarely fit a single discipline. That is by design.
The Federal Council formalized on March 20 what SECO had already been applying since February 28: no new export licenses for war matériel to the United States for the duration of the conflict. The U.S. was Switzerland’s second-largest defense export market in 2025. Industry association Swissmem called the decision premature. Parliament had voted in December to relax re-export rules for 25 Western countries including the U.S. — but that legislation has not yet taken effect and remains subject to a referendum. For Swiss defense firms dependent on U.S. export revenue, the ban is indefinite in duration and structurally familiar: the same neutrality logic that blocked Swiss-made equipment from reaching Ukraine now applies to the United States. A physical U.S. manufacturing presence changes that calculus in ways no export license can.
May 3–6, 2026 U.S. Market EntryThe 2026 summit drew over 5,000 attendees from more than 100 countries, with record investment commitments and headline themes of manufacturing renaissance, AI, and critical minerals. RFG was invited to attend a function for the Swiss and Liechtenstein delegation, alongside Swiss defense and industrial representatives, held in Washington on the sidelines of the summit. The engagement confirmed a pattern visible across the summit floor: the question for foreign industrial firms is no longer whether to establish a U.S. presence, but how to do so before the competitive window closes.
Switzerland’s public broadcaster SRF reported that the U.S. redirected over CHF 100 million from Switzerland’s F-35 payments into the Patriot program, circumventing the payment freeze Bern imposed in fall 2025. armasuisse’s director confirmed the scale publicly — a low three-digit million CHF figure — but stated the precise amount could not be disclosed. The 2020 referendum that authorized Switzerland’s fighter procurement credit passed with 50.1% — already signaling narrow public appetite for major U.S. defense commitments. Costs have risen an estimated 50%. Delivery is now pushed to at least 2034. Parliamentary reaction has been sharp across multiple parties. The Federal Council is expected to decide by end of June whether to continue, renegotiate, or cancel. When a bilateral portfolio reaches this level of structural friction, the instruments that retain value are the ones neither side is willing to dissolve.
April 8, 2026 Trade PolicyOral arguments on the Section 122 challenge were heard by a three-judge panel at the Court of International Trade — a marathon session in which the panel sharply probed the government’s justification for invoking the statute. No ruling has been issued. The tariff expires July 24 regardless of outcome, unless Congress acts to extend it. For companies evaluating a permanent U.S. presence, the lesson has not changed: the legal mechanism will continue to shift. A physical footprint resolves what no tariff ruling can.
February 18, 2026 Peru · Offset PolicyPeru’s revised offset directive sets a binding timeline: framework agreements must be signed before contract award on standard procurements, and within 30 days of LOA signature on FMS purchases. Non-compliance carries a 2% monthly penalty. The framework is not aspirational. It is already being enforced.
April 5, 2026 Austria · Defense ProcurementSeven platforms are under evaluation for Austria’s next fighter requirement, with a contract targeted by 2029. At this scale — 36 aircraft, €6–7 billion — the industrial cooperation obligation will be the largest in Austrian history. The framework that governs it is still being written. Political debate over program funding has already surfaced at the ministerial level. That friction does not pause the industrial cooperation architecture window. It compresses it.
October 23, 2025 Peru · Market AccessRFG participated as guest of the Swiss-Peruvian Chamber of Commerce, at a forum attended by Peru’s Minister of Defense, the Commander Generals of the armed services, and senior defense industry leadership. Within six weeks, Peru signed a landmark armored vehicle agreement that included a domestic production licensing arrangement. Institutional access at this level is built over time, not arranged at the proposal stage.
July 8, 2025 Austria · Industrial CooperationAustria’s defense budget has doubled since 2020 and is legislatively committed to reach 2% of GDP by 2032. An inter-ministerial taskforce established in July 2025 is now designing the framework that will govern industrial cooperation requirements across that procurement pipeline. The architecture is still being written. For firms entering the Austrian market, and for Austrian industry seeking to position for it, that window is consequential.
February 19, 2025 Industrial CooperationWhat the industry currently views as a novel application of commercial MRO for defense credits is, in fact, a proven discipline. RFG’s principal developed and delivered this structurally identical methodology successfully several years prior, proving the model’s viability before it was replicated elsewhere.
June 15–19, 2026 · Upcoming European DefenseThe global benchmark for land and air-land defense procurement. Every major offset obligation in Europe and Latin America has a connection to this floor. What happens before Eurosatory matters more than what happens during it.
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