Given the crowd that seems to cluster around HN, I'm pretty sure that you're very unlikely to get a solid understanding of what USian defense contractors are doing these days.
A great many of today's Silly Valley inhabitants are significantly anti-DoD, and the subset of the folks that take the time to comment on HN seem to come nearly exclusively from the anti-DoD set. (Why would anyone who _does_ defense work and thinks that it's virtuous talk about it openly here, when they're likely to just get screamed at for being a civilian-killer and flagged into oblivion?)
If I were you, and were looking for answers, I'd try to start talking to recruiters for the various defense contractors and also start hitting up folks doing work in your area of interest to get an idea of what's going on, and who's doing good work in the space.
A great many of today's Silly Valley inhabitants are significantly anti-DoD, and the subset of the folks that take the time to comment on HN seem to come nearly exclusively from the anti-DoD set. (Why would anyone who _does_ defense work and thinks that it's virtuous talk about it openly here, when they're likely to just get screamed at for being a civilian-killer and flagged into oblivion?)
If I were you, and were looking for answers, I'd try to start talking to recruiters for the various defense contractors and also start hitting up folks doing work in your area of interest to get an idea of what's going on, and who's doing good work in the space.