Rapid Fire July 13, 2012: Birds With Clipped Wings

Jul 13, 2012 08:50 UTC by Defense Industry Daily staff
  • HawkerBeechcraft has begun low-rate production of its own AT-6C FAC turboprop, “in response to significant indications of interest around the world.”
  • Unlucky day yesterday for 2 Colombian EMB-314 Drakos (Super Tucano) pilots, whose light attack/ FAC(Forward Air Control) turboprop was shot down during an operation against FARC narco-terrorists. If FARC used a missile, tensions between Venezuela and Colombia will spike.
  • Luckier days for Embraer lately, which just had Boeing sign on to add new weapons to its EMB-314 Super Tucano (A-29 to Brazil’s FAB).

  • Production cuts to the F-35 fighter family are jeopardizing promised cost reductions for Pratt & Whitney’s F135 engine. Friendly advice for P&W Military Engines President Bennett Croswell: “I think this will be like the F100 program…” is the wrong thing to say to anybody with a working memory of the F100′s early technical failures and cost issues, before competition was introduced by GE’s F110.

  • UAVs are going global.

  • France held a successful 3rd firing test of its long-range Scalp Naval/ MdCN cruise missile, and the 1st compete firing test. MdCN will deploy aboard some of France’s new FREMM frigates, and its submarines.

  • Can PTSD predisposition be predicted, before exposure to combat? One researcher thinks the answer may be “yes,” and work at Fort Hood has yielded some interesting insights into Post Traumatic Stress Disorder.

  • The Pentagon is reverting its policy that limited the length of its mandated reports to Congress (to just 10 pages it turns out).

    • You could smell like him
    I’m on a horse

    Russian bombers could see Alaska from their backyard during recent visits near the US West Coast. The Russians made a similar string of flights 4 years ago. Introducing Spice de Cold War, by Vladimir.

    Don’t let your brain slide into weekend mode just yet, there’s still serious work and reading to be done. The CSIS think tank updated its report [PDF] on the ballistic and nuclear dimensions of Iran/Gulf military balance.

    Categories: Americas - Other, Boeing, China, Daily Rapid Fire, Engines - Aircraft, Events, Fighters & Attack, France, MBDA, Medical, Mergers & Acquisitions, Other Corporation, R&D - Private, Russia, Science - Basic Research, Testing & Evaluation, UAVs, United Technologies, USA

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