Rapid Fire July 6, 2012: No Dutch F-35s?

Jul 06, 2012 09:35 UTC by Defense Industry Daily staff
  • A parliamentary majority opposed to buying the F-35A Joint Strike Fighter has emerged in the Netherlands. Despite lobbying from the MvD, and 2 planes ordered already, the issue seems set to come to a vote. If the vote goes badly, the cost of ending the country’s Tier 2 participation in the program could hit EUR 1 billion. Then again, if reported figures regarding Saab’s JAS-39E/F Gripen offer are true, Dutch government budgets could still come out ahead. Industry may be less happy.
  • Speaking of the F-35 vs. the JAS-39, a study by IHS Jane’s puts the 2 jets at opposite ends of the spectrum for operations and maintenance costs among modern western fighter jets. If these figures are correct, that’s a difference in lifetime O&M costs of about $250 million per fighter.
  • In South Korea, the F-X-3 fighter competition is underway again, as all 3 competitors have re-submitted their bids. Boeing’s stealth-enhanced F-15SE Silent Eagle squares off against the BAE/EADS Eurofighter, and Lockheed Martin’s F-35A.

  • Another Rafale-M crash, during operations from the FS Charles de Gaulle. A Rafale-M also went down in November 2010, during operations near Pakistan.

  • Russia’s Yak-130 will fly at Farnborough 2012, as Russia looks for exports to supplement its domestic orders. The absence of a dedicated light attack version will hurt, but the type can carry weapons.

  • Turkey’s shot down RF-4E reconnaissance fighter’s pilots have been found, which should end reports that it was a drone. Bad news: they’re dead. That’ll ratchet local tensions up one more notch.

  • A group of (mostly) Republican US senators sent a letter to top defense contractors asking them how they think sequestration will affect them. Said contractors have already widely made known how they felt about it in broad terms (“Oh god no!”) while it is public knowledge that DoD has not even started planning for the sequester (“What, us worry?”). So the leading questions in this letter are transparently asked to put pressure on the Administration to flesh out this summer how the sequester will/would play out.

  • What does life in Congress after the earmark ban look like?

  • The British MoD provided more details on intended force structure after its Army 2020 shrinking transformation in this document [PDF].

    • Categories: Asia - Other, BAE, Boeing, Britain/U.K., Budgets, Daily Rapid Fire, EADS, Europe - Other, Events, Fighters & Attack, France, Issues - International, Issues - Political, Lobbying, Lockheed Martin, Middle East - Other, USA

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