These days the Federal Trade Commission is challenging mergers based on little more than speculation. The FTC has brought such questionable challenges involving tech, aerospace, cloud gaming, health care, microchips, and the metaverse. Not surprisingly, the FTC has yet to prevail on its theories in court, even as one court rejected its tech suit and its own Administrative Law Judge rejected its position in a health care case.Despite these mounting losses, a new merger will test whether the FTC will adopt an even more aggressive and speculative theory. Last December, L3Harris Technologies announced plans to acquire Aerojet Rocketdyne. On the surface, this merger appears to raise no genuine competitive concerns. Although both companies are defense contractors, L3Harris and Aerojet produce no overlapping products and thus are not horizontal competitors. L3Harris produces a range of electronic and wireless systems, while Aerojet manufactures propulsion sy
