Rapid Fire 2011-11-21: F-35 Commitment | Australian, British Soldier Gear

Nov 21, 2011 08:20 UTC by Defense Industry Daily staff
  • U.S. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta said during the Halifax International Security Forum last Friday: “I feel very confident that we’ll get funding for the F-35 program”. A day later Senator John McCain (R-AZ) answered: “We want the F-35 to succeed. We’re not opposed to the F-35. But we have obligations to our taxpayers.” Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Martin Dempsey tried to walk back his comment from last month and told reporters he “didn’t have a cross hair on the F-35.” Acting defense acquisition undersecretary Frank Kendall went to Lockheed Martin’s plant in Fort Worth, TX where final assembly takes place.
  • This while the Super Committee looks dead on arrival: Politico | Roll Call. Next likely step for defense budget battles: attempts to unwind the Budget Control Act of 2011′s automatic sequester before it kicks in by 2013. This is probably the end of the beginning rather than the beginning of the end.
  • US federal agencies that don’t pass a clean audit this year: the Departments of Defense, State, and Homeland Security.
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  • Chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee Darrell Issa (R-CA) sent a letter to the DoD Inspector General (IG) to find out whether Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman Carl Levin (D-MI) tried to lean on the phrasing of a report by the IG.

  • As USS Makin Island sailed on her maiden deployment, she also sailed with the 1st operational deployment of AH-1Z Viper attack helicopters.

  • MEADS air defense system’s 1st firing test goes well, using an “over the shoulder” missile launch against a target coming from behind.

  • Despite an accident, the US Navy’s future USS San Diego [LPD 22] completes US Navy INSURV acceptance trials. Delivery is slated for mid-December 2011.

  • Sikorsky delivers Sweden’s 4th base UH-60M helicopter to the US Army, who manages the sale. Sweden will convert them to UH-60M combat search-and-rescue helis, then deploy to Afghanistan.

  • What are Australian soldiers issued when they go to Afghanistan? 105 items worth about $9,650 (AUD and USD are at about parity these days) according to Minister for Defence Materiel Jason Clare. They’re also getting new Carl Gustav 84 mm guns like their peers in the US Army, as well as upgraded helmets. Meanwhile Think Defence lists the content of the British kit, with videos.

  • In the video below, recently-appointed UK Defence Secretary Philip Hammond says new financial oversight is put in place to take a clean break from “a decade or more of very poor management control in the MoD”. Spending on outside consultants has ballooned under the Framework Agreement for Technical Support (presciently acronymized as FATS) introduced in 2009 by the previous (Labour) government. And today Minister for the Cabinet Office Francis Maude made broader announcements on public procurement. Spend Matters offers quick thoughts.
    Categories: Australia & S. Pacific, Britain/U.K., Budgets, Daily Rapid Fire, Europe - Other, Fighters & Attack, Helicopters & Rotary, Lockheed Martin, Official Reports, Other Corporation, Soldier's Gear, Surface Ships - Other, Testing & Evaluation, United Technologies, USA

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