Microsoft hurried out Monday to say that General Dynamics Itronix, whose defense contractor parent has a market cap of $27 billion, will be paying Microsoft royalties for broad patent protection for its Android devices.

The deal must have gone down relatively easily because Microsoft deputy general counsel Horacio Gutierrez called it "an example of how industry leaders address intellectual property" in the announcement.

Itronix, which makes rugged laptops and tablets, said, the deal would let it "meet the evolving demands of our customers with more diverse applications and increased functionality in products that incorporate the Android platform."

The ink was barely dry on the Itronix license when Microsoft popped back up Wednesday to say that it's also got a royalty-bearing patent deal in its favor covering privately held Velocity Micro's Android-based Cruz tablets.

Then on Thursday Microsoft said it would be getting royalties on Onkyo Corporation's Android tablets. The Japanese company, which also sells Windows 7-based tablets, came out with 10.1-inch Android models in December built around the Tegra chip.

Gutierrez preened that "This agreement and similar agreements recently announced evidence the momentum and success of our licensing program."

Citibank has previously calculated that HTC pays Microsoft five bucks a pop for its Android phone, worth initially something around $150 million, more, they say, than Microsoft makes on its Windows phones.

Google doesn't indemnify Android OEMs. It can't.