Rapid Fire Dec. 11, 2012: Who’s Big in Brazil?

Dec 11, 2012 09:40 UTC by Defense Industry Daily staff
  • Brazilian news weekly Istoé published an article [in Portuguese] claiming that Brazil’s Air Force is partial to Super Hornets in the ongoing FX-2 competition for 36 fighters. President Rousseff is in France for two days, though discussing the stalled decision to buy Rafales is not officially on the agenda according to the AFP [in French]. Both countries are facing markedly slower economic growth this year.
  • South Korea and Turkey have a tight defense relationship but that does not make the Turkish T-129 attack helicopter a guaranteed success in South Korea. Hürriyet.

  • Russia’s Military Industrial Commission is weighing the pros and cons of military imports vs. local development and production. Dmitry Gorenburg at Harvard University has the highlights of a report whose authors like how the French defense ministry is supporting that country’s industry.

  • A bipartisan group of 22 members of the US House of Representatives sent a letter to President Obama and the congressional leadership to voice their support for “significant defense savings”, though they reject sequestration’s arbitrary nature.

  • The Diplomat interviewed Congressman Randy Forbes [R-VA, HASC member] on a number of issues including the continued relevance of aircraft carriers and the US posture in Asia.

  • Vice Admiral David Dunaway, who took command of US Naval Air Systems Command (NAVAIR) in September, issued a memo [scanned PDF, email us if you have a better version] detailing guidance and best practices for performance-based logistics (PBL), based on experience throughout the supply chain of programs such as the V-22, F/A-18, and H-60.

  • The energy density provided by the sun per surface unit of lit land is obviously finite, so there’s only so much energy that planes with solar power wings will be able to harvest. Thus weight savings are essential to continue developing solar (unmanned) aircraft. One way to do that is lighter cables. Center for International Maritime Security.

    • Categories: Brazil, Budgets, China, Daily Rapid Fire, Fighters & Attack, France, Helicopters & Rotary, Russia, South Korea, Turkey, USA

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