Rapid Fire: 2010-09-10
Sep 09, 2010 22:04 EDTRelated Stories: Americas - USA, BAE, Britain/U.K., Budgets, C4ISR, Daily Rapid Fire, Equipment - Other, Fighters & Attack, IT - Cyber-Security, Industry & Trends, L3 Communications, Leadership & People, Lockheed Martin, Mergers & Acquisitions, Missiles - Ballistic, Nuclear Weapons, Policy - Personnel, Russia, Scandals & Investigations, Submarines
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- Despite overseeing drastic cuts at the Pentagon, Defense Secretary Gates is supported by many US defense industry execs, who do not want to see his early departure.
- Watching the Watchdog: US Sen Grassley (R-IA) issues scathing report [PDF] charging that the DoD Inspector General’s Office is dropping the ball on investigating defense waste and fraud.
- Big War Chest: L-3 says it has $1 billion in cash to spend on acquisitions targeted at intelligence, cybersecurity, and defense services firms.
- A quarter of Lockheed Martin’s executives, more than 600, have accepted early retirement packages offered by the defense firm.
- BAE Systems plans to cut 740 jobs at the UK division supplying parts for military aircraft such as Lockheed Martin’s F-35 Lightning II fighter; plants in Brough, Chadderton, Warton, Samlesbury in northern England, and Farnborough, west of London, could be affected.
- Russia plans to resume testing this month of its Bulava (SS-NX-30) 3-stage submarine-launched ballistic missile capable of carrying 10 nuclear warheads up to 5,000 miles; tests were put on hold after a series of failed launches in 2009.
