The number of major U.S. defense prime contractors declined from 51 in the late 1980s to five.
Notes on verification
Confirmed by DoD report, CRS report, CBS News, and background on the 1993 'Last Supper' meeting; minor discrepancy in exact dating (late 1980s vs early 1990s) but consistent magnitude and trend. [cascade flags: wikipedia_dropped_other_sources_exist | tier=silver indep_score=1.0 clusters=2 claim_tier=notable]
Sources
- Secretary of Defense Speech at RAND (As Delivered) (seed:military_and_intelligence)
- https://www.congress.gov/crs-product/R47751 (corroboration)
- https://www.cbsnews.com/news/pentagon-budget-price-gouging-military-contractors-60-minutes-2023-05-21/ (corroboration)