Rapid Fire Dec. 7, 2012: JSF PEO Transition | UK Budgets
Lt Gen Christopher C. Bogdan is now heading the JSF program, following his promotion last August and VADM Venlet’s retirement. Bogdan was Venlet’s deputy since July. Reuters portrays him as a...
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Australia’s Troubled E-737 “Wedgetail” AWACS Program
E-737 Wedgetail over New South Wales(click to view full) The island continent of Australia faces a number of unique security challenges that stem from its geography. The continent may be separated...
View ArticleRapid Fire Dec. 20, 2013: Drawdown Cost/Benefit; UK Troop Levels
The GAO on the forthcoming logistics costs of withdrawing from Afghanistan and what to leave vs. what to bring back: “Because the services have not consistently performed and documented analyses to...
View ArticleRapid Fire Jan. 23, 2013: Get Used to Redundancy and Diversification News
Rolls Royce intends to cut or relocate 378 defense-related jobs at its plant in Ansty, UK, or almost half its staff. This follows the confirmation by the Ministry of Defence of a third tranche of...
View ArticleRapid Fire Jan. 24, 2013: Aerospace Continues to Outperform IT
In 2012 Lockheed Martin increased its yearly sales by 1.5% to $47.2B. Growth in aeronautics compensated lost ground in information system, confirming a pattern seen for the last two years and across...
View ArticleRapid Fire Jan. 25, 2013: US Navy Adjusts to Budget Outlook
Adm. Jonathan Greenert, The US Navy’s Chief of Naval Operations, is freezing civilian hiring – like the Air Force earlier announced – and cancelling a lot of maintenance work that was scheduled...
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Rapid Fire Jan. 31, 2013: Feds Uncertain Why They’re Spending Less
Alan Krueger, Chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers (to the White House), on the reason why US GDP contracted by 0.1% in Q4 2012: “Federal defense purchases declined at an annual rate of 22.2...
View ArticleRapid Fire Feb. 27, 2013: Chuck Hagel’s Weak Confirmation
As expected Republican Senators softened their opposition to allow Chuck Hagel’s nomination as US Secretary of Defense. The 58-41 roll call stands in contrast with the entirely smooth confirmations of...
View ArticleRapid Fire Feb. 28, 2013: Light Air Support Reawarded to Sierra Nevada / Embraer
The US Air Force awarded again its $427M contract (with a $950M maximum) for light air support (LAS) aircraft for the Afghan forces to the team which had already won last year, before the Company Now...
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Airbus’ A400M Aerial Transport: Delays and Development
A400M rollout, Seville(click to view full) Airbus’ A400M is a EUR 20+ billion program that aims to repeat Airbus’ civilian successes in the full size military transport market. A series of smart...
View ArticleRapid Fire March 8, 2013: A Budget Too Far
The President Budget for FY14 may be delayed further to early April, in order to let Senate Democrats and the White House get in sync, according to the NYT. In the meantime Senate Appropriations...
View ArticleRapid Fire March 14, 2013: Afghanistan Drawdown Leads to MRAP JLI Cancellation
Patty Murray [D-WA], Chairman of the US Senate Budget Committee, introduced the first Senate budget proposal in years with a plan that seeks to replace sequestration with smaller budget cuts mixed...
View ArticleRapid Fire March 20, 2013: MBDA Shrunk by Third in a Decade
Senator Kelly Ayotte [R-NH] tried but failed to scrap MEADS funding (alternatively for termination or development) with an amendment to the Senate’s continuing resolution/minibus HR 933 bill. The CR...
View ArticleRapid Fire April 1, 2013: China Not Investing in Ports Abroad for Mil Purposes
To “speculation” that China’s recent $10B investment package in Tanzania that includes port infrastructure in Bagamoyo may also have a military purpose, the official Chinese response is: of course...
View ArticleRapid Fire April 18, 2013: Pentagon DPAP Looking for Help | Operation Serval...
The Pentagon’s Defense Procurement and Acquisition Policy (DPAP) has opened applications to its Acquisition Exchange Program (AEP) which opens up 3-12 months assignments at the GS-11+ level that span...
View ArticleRapid Fire April 24, 2013: Contractors Starting to Face Sequestration Fallout
BAE Systems and its suppliers are lobbying the US Congress to sustain Bradley orders from the US Army and keep their production line open. Lockheed Martin’s Q1 2013 revenue was down 2% Y/Y to $11.1B,...
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Rapid Fire April 25, 2013: How Best to Execute Furloughs?
A large bipartisan group of US lawmakers sent a letter [PDF] to the secretary of defense urging him to base sequestration-driven furlough decisions on merit, reports Government Executive. Northrop...
View ArticleRapid Fire April 26, 2013: Decent Quarter for Primes Shouldn’t Hide Industry...
Raytheon’s Q1 2013 sales were down by 1% Y/Y to %5.88B. The backlog lost 2.2% from a year ago, to $33.5B. Missile systems performed best (+8%) while network centric systems decreased by 7%. Overall US...
View ArticleRapid Fire May 2, 2013: Pentagon to Get Sequestration Accommodation?
The Pentagon may send a request for sequestration flexibility to the House of Representatives’ Appropriations Committee next week, according to an anonymous House Republican aide quoted by Reuters....
View ArticleRapid Fire May 6, 2013: Tensions Defused in India, Flaring in Syria
Operations and maintenance were the first to be hit by sequestration. Pentagon Comptroller Bob Dale told Defense News that the impact of sequestration on acquisition programs will be known soon, with...
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