|
|||||
|
When the USAF acquisition directorate chose Brazil’s Super Tucano to outfit the Afghan air force over rival Hawker-Beechcraft’s AT-6 offering, howls could be heard from Wichita all the way to Sandy Eggo. I guess somebody heard them: The U.S. Air Force said Tuesday it would set aside a contract awarded late last year to [...]  The F-35B STOVL variant of the Joint Strike Fighter comes off of it: Defense Secretary Leon Panetta on Friday cleared a path for the Marine Corps’s version of Lockheed Martin Corp.’s F-35 stealth fighter jet, removing the beleaguered program from “probation” after he said sufficient progress was made to address technical problems. Officials said [...] Even those who have not traditionally been counted among DoD’s allies are waking up to the idea that budget cuts, and the consequent drying up of defense-driven research and development innovation could have transformational effects – in the wrong direction: The Navy, which started budgeting for research in 1946, counts 59 eventual Nobel laureates [...] USAF let a contract for a light CAS aircraft destined to provide the backbone of the Afghan air force to an Embraer consortium two weeks ago, angering supporters of Wichita-based Hawker-Beechcraft, who argued that their AT-6 derivative of the T-6 Texan II trainer ought to get a “made in America” preference. Stuff and nonsense, [...] Poway-based General Atomics has made a killing – I say that with admiration – by anticipating DoD’s needs, and providing a solution prior to requirements definition. Which kind of turns the entire JCIDS process upside down, but saves an enormous amount of time, keeping in mind that when the federal bureaucracy is involved, time [...] Good news for Lockheed Martin and the F-35 program from Japan: The Pentagon office that runs the Lockheed Martin Corp on Monday hailed news that Japan had selected the F-35 as its next generation fighter and said it would help strengthen partnerships with Japan… Japan is the second country besides Israel to order the [...] VADM Venlet weighs in on the potentially fatal decision to execute concurrent “build and test” on the F-35 program: “The analyzed hot spots that have arisen in the last 12 months or so in the program have surprised us at the amount of change and at the cost,” Vice Adm. David Venlet said in [...] The tribulations of the F-35 program in the current fiscal environment is shaking the investment plans of an old ally: The UK’s National Audit Office reveals that the only reasons government preserved two aircraft carriers in “extended availability” were to preserve “diplomatic and commercial sensitivities”. If DoD cancels the F-35C in favor of more [...] In the view of the New York Times’ editorial board, the military in good economic times is an irredentist force with suspect loyalties to progressive orthodoxy. Which hates women. And gays. The military is for fighting wars, and there really oughtn’t to be wars, our intellectual betters believe. They’re very expensive, harmful to the [...] Navy is planning on purchasing the entire inventory of Royal Navy and Air Force Harrier jets, according to Defense News: Britain has agreed to sell all of its 74 decommissioned Harrier jump jets, along with engines and spare parts, to the U.S. Navy and Marine Corps – a move expected to help the Marines [...] |
  |
||||
|
Copyright © 2013 Neptunus Lex - All Rights Reserved |
|||||
Hot Mic