Rapid Fire Dec. 6, 2012: OK, OK, We’ll Plan for Bad

Dec 06, 2012 10:00 UTC by Defense Industry Daily staff
  • After recoiling for months from planning for sequestration for fear of triggering a self-fulfilling prophecy, the Pentagon has now started doing so, or at least admitting that they do. AP.
  • The Aerospace Industries Association (AIA) published its 2012 review/forecast [PDF]: “The U.S. military aircraft sector continues to contract, falling 2.4% over last year and will further decline by more than 10% in 2013.” But with a backlog edging close to the 2008 peak above half a trillion dollars, the overall aerospace industry still has plenty of work ahead thanks to global civilian orders.
  • Rolls Royce announced they are under investigation by the UK’s Serious Fraud Office for allegations of bribery in China and Indonesia. The company’s internal inquiry acknowledges “matters of concern.” This must be for civil aerospace or energy products, given the destination countries.

  • India is preparing a large tender for submarines, according to the Hindustan Times.

  • The Israeli Air Force suspects inside help was involved in the theft of several F-16 engines. Back in February 3,000 tank shells were stolen from an Army base. Arutz Sheva | Walla [in Hebrew].

  • Bidding from the Philippines for 21 UH-1 helicopters failed to deliver an eligible proposal. Philippine Star.

  • EADS officially confirmed the broad lines of its forthcoming shareholding structural changes, along the lines of recent press reports: Daimler AG and Lagardère are on their way out while the German and French governments should ultimately own 12% each, with 4% to Spain.

  • Five years ago France, then under recently-elected president Nicolas Sarkozy, issued its 2008 Livre Blanc, a whitepaper outlining broad strategic budgetary and choices. Execution did not exactly follow the plan, and today a different administration from a different political party is in power. Work on a new Livre Blanc is still under way, and newspaper Le Parisien tried to scoop its competitors with claims [in French] that the new document will seek savings of a billion euros per year. But Jean-Dominique Merchet from Marianne debunks [in French] a number of that article’s points. The new Livre Blanc has been postponed by a few months, but France’s costly nuclear deterrent is already known to be off limits. UPDATE: a spokesman from the MINDEF rebuked the articles from Le Parisien.

    • Categories: Asia - Other, Budgets, Daily Rapid Fire, EADS, France, Helicopters & Rotary, India, Israel, Rolls Royce, Scandals & Investigations, Submarines, USA

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