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Rapid Fire 2012-02-27: Re-using Used Commercial Components

Feb 27, 2012 08:45 EST
Related Stories: Alliances, Asia - India, Budgets, Daily Rapid Fire, Europe - France, Fuel & Power, Guns - under 20mm direct, Middle East - Israel, Middle East - Other, Procurement Innovations
  • The French DGA procurement agency released its 2011 activity report [PDF, in French]. Urgent operational purchase requests vastly decreased to just 20 million Euros ($27M). Support to foreign sales was sustained: DGA reckons French export bookings for 2011 amounted to 6.5 billion Euros (~$8.7B).
  • The Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) updated its estimate of armament sales by contractor to reflect 2010 sales that turned out at about the same level as 2009. Their Top 100 list is topped by Lockheed Martin, BAE, Boeing, Northrop Grumman and General Dynamics.
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  • The US Air Force is saving millions of dollars with the purchase of used fan blades for F108 engines. “The unit price is $6,855 per pair of used titanium fan blades, versus a price tag of $42,273 for a pair of new fan blades.” Their assessment is that this is done at minimal risk. They are now looking at other potential similar savings thanks to the availability of civilian CFM56 jet engines from which the F108 is derived. Meanwhile the Air Force is also considering selling C-27Js and Block 30 RQ-4 Global Hawks.
  • F.E. Warren Air Force Base, WY, is now using the Remote Targeting Engagement System (RTES) to control remotely 6 M-240 machine guns thanks to a set of cameras including thermal imaging and wide-angle coverage.
  • BP was by far the Pentagon’s biggest fuel supplier during FY11, well ahead of its FY10 sales and of the #2 supplier, according to Bloomberg. Video at the bottom of this entry.
  • US DoD Comptroller Robert Hale thinks sequestration won’t happen [video interview].
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