Rapid Fire Oct. 5, 2012: Russian Heavy (Shop)lifting

Oct 05, 2012 10:20 UTC by Defense Industry Daily staff
  • The Pentagon has paid $188M in container detention fees that went back to 2006 in just the past few months, according to USA Today. Minimizing these fees is much more complicated than the article makes it out to be. Of course rent-to-own costs more than outright buying containers, but to get the full picture you also need to take into account savings from short-term origin-to-destination rentals that don’t get delayed and cost a fraction of owning said containers. And owning a bunch of containers so that they sit where you no longer need them costs money too. The complexity of military supply chains, compounded by a rocky container-shipping market, deserves better than simplistic answers.
  • It is too bad Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Martin Dempsey is not commenting on why he is reportedly opposing the demotion of Gen. William Ward, given the seriousness of the allegations of personal spending out of government funds made against the former AFRICOM commander.
 The DOD Inspector General submitted their conclusions [FOIA'd PDF] three months ago after a long investigation, but a decision has yet to be made by the Secretary of Defense.

  • The US Defense Acquisition University (DAU) Alumni Association and the Acquisition Community Connection (ACC) organized a forum on the role of Congressional staff and lobbyists in the defense acquisition process two days ago. Here’s the slidedeck [PPTX]. “If it’s broken in the Pentagon, you probably can’t fix it on the Hill.”

  • Recently-appointed Navistar interim CEO Lewis Campbell is focused on cost cutting.

  • Russia is buying 39 IL-476 transport planes for around 140 billion rubles ($4B).

  • The FBI arrested Russians that were smuggling electronic components that are sold openly in the US, but cannot be exported without a license as they can be used in weapon systems: FBI | New York Times | Moscow Times.

  • Helos for India: the acquisition of Apache attack helicopters looks a little more official, while the Heavy Lift competition went through technical trials with the two bids from the US and Russia recently opened by the Ministry of Defence.

    • Categories: Daily Rapid Fire, Helicopters & Rotary, India, Lobbying, Logistics, Navistar, People, RFPs, Russia, Scandals & Investigations, USA

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