Welcome to Issue #13 of The Obligated. Every week I monitor USASpending.gov, congressional stock disclosures, and SEC insider filings to find the 3 signals hiding in plain sight. The government publishes billions of dollars of market-moving information every day. Almost nobody reads it.
🟢 SIGNAL #1 — FREE THIS WEEK
$SARO
StandardAero, Inc. · NYSE · ~$10.3 billion market cap
WHAT HAPPENED
On August 20, 2026, the Department of War posted a $62,297,771 modification to StandardAero's existing Navy indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract (N0001924D0126), covering continued depot repair of T56-A-427 engines — power section, torque meter, gearbox, and accessories — for Naval Air Systems Command in Patuxent River, Maryland. This is the second T56-engine award StandardAero picked up from the Pentagon in four days: on August 18, the Air Force put the company on a separate 10-year, $342.2 million ceiling contract for T56 depot maintenance supporting the global C-130 fleet, which StandardAero disclosed itself through a press release and an 8-K filing, and which aviation trade outlets have already covered.
WHY IT MATTERS
The $62.3 million Navy modification alone equals roughly 0.6% of StandardAero's market cap — proportionally a far bigger bite than similarly sized awards that went to Boeing, General Dynamics, or Raytheon this week, all of which carry market caps 10 to 20 times larger. StandardAero went public in October 2024 and draws a meaningful share of its revenue from military engine sustainment, so incremental Pentagon task orders move the needle more for this company than they would for a $100-billion-plus prime contractor.
WHAT TO WATCH
Watch StandardAero's next quarterly filing for how much of its backlog growth traces to T56/C-130 sustainment work, and watch War.gov for additional task orders issued under either the new Navy modification or the Air Force IDIQ over the next 90 days.
🟡 SIGNAL #2 — PAID SUBSCRIBERS ONLY
$BA
The Boeing Company · NYSE · ~$171 billion market cap
WHAT HAPPENED
On August 20, 2026, the Navy awarded Boeing a $156,201,219 contract for P-8A engine components — an award that came the same week as several much larger Boeing headlines, which is exactly why almost nobody noticed that it also lines up with...
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🔴 SIGNAL #3 — PAID SUBSCRIBERS ONLY
$GD
General Dynamics Corporation · NYSE · ~$106 billion market cap
WHAT HAPPENED
Two separate General Dynamics business units picked up Pentagon contract modifications this week tied to one of the most closely watched munitions programs in the current defense budget debate. Combined, the modifications add up to just over $57 million — and the line item buried inside one of them, about 559 units of a specific weapon component, is the part worth...
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📋 WEEKLY RECOMPETE WATCHLIST — PAID SUBSCRIBERS ONLY
5 contracts expiring in the next 90 days. These companies are about to win or lose revenue — before any press release.
This week's research pass through War.gov, USASpending.gov, and SAM.gov did not turn up five expiring prime contracts I could verify against a public source with the confidence this newsletter requires. Rather than publish placeholder tickers, I'm holding this section until next issue's pull produces genuinely sourced expirations. Paid subscribers will see it as soon as it's ready — not before.
⚠️ Disclaimer
The Obligated is not a registered investment adviser, broker-dealer, or financial planner. Nothing in this newsletter constitutes personalized financial, legal, or tax advice. All data is sourced from publicly available government records including USASpending.gov, War.gov, SEC EDGAR, Capitol Trades STOCK Act disclosures, and the Senate Lobbying Disclosure database. We do not recommend buying or selling any security. All investment strategies involve risk of loss. You are solely responsible for your own investment decisions. Consult a licensed financial professional before acting on any information provided.
The Obligated · theobligated.com · Issue #13 · August 24, 2026