Rapid Fire June 5, 2013: Interest Groups, A Gift that Keeps On Giving

Jun 05, 2013 12:20 UTC

Contributing to a sudden, redoubled effort from interest groups to pressure the US government into starting significant reforms at the Pentagon, the conservative National Taxpayers Union (NTU) and R Street Institute released a report [PDF] outlining yet another non-parochial plan for Congress to ignore. Like pretty much everyone else, they see a potential for big savings in DoD (civilian) personnel, but also go more aggressively than most after weapon systems.

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Rapid Fire June 4, 2013: Crazy Think Tanks Want Sensible Reform Conversation

Jun 04, 2013 11:40 UTC

The US Navy posted a summary [obnoxious text-as-image format, because PDF would have been too easy] of the Air-Sea Battle (ASB) concept which even has its own office. Summary of the summary: the US needs to relearn how to fight enemies with better gear than Kalashnikovs, Toyota pickup trucks, and fertilizer. The sort of environment where you expect your ships to catch fire because the enemy is able to get to them.

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Rapid Fire June 3, 2013: Israel Reviews What to Get with Vendor Financing

Jun 03, 2013 11:50 UTC

Bloomberg reports, based on anonymous sources, that Israel is reviewing what types of systems it will buy from the US with American aid. New V-22s and used KC-135s are part of the talks.

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Rapid Fire May 31, 2013: DoD Finally Succumbs to Stockholm Syndrome

May 31, 2013 11:30 UTC

After almost 2 years of denial, US Defense Undersecretary Ashton Carter instructed the services to work on FY 14 and FY15 budgeting scenarios that span a range going from the president’s unrealistic FY14 budget to full sequestration (~10% lower). Give it another year or two and they might start to defend sequestration.

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Rapid Fire May 30, 2013: Group Think Tank Attack

May 30, 2013 11:25 UTC

4 major defense-focused American think tanks joined forces to weight budget trade-offs for the Pentagon over the next 10 years. They have a clear consensus [PDF] to primarily target personnel, and more specifically DoD civilians, for cuts, whether sequestration is applied fully or partially. 3 of them also seem to really like stealthy UAVs, while AEI likes their stealth aircraft manned (probably a more realistic option given the chosen timeframe) and doesn’t see the same need for a cyber splurge. Surface combatants would also be significantly cut under most of their scenarios. These organizations are possibly starting to think too much alike.

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Rapid Fire May 29, 2013: Spanish Military Exports Decline After Record Year

May 29, 2013 12:00 UTC

Spain’s armament exports decreased by 19.6% in 2012 after a record 2011, to EUR 1.95B (about $2.5B). That is still more than twice the yearly average up to 2010. Australia replaced Venezuela as their largest purchaser. El Pais [in Spanish].

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Rapid Fire May 28, 2013: Another Round of Chinese Hacks Revealed, Denied

May 28, 2013 12:30 UTC

According to the Washington Post, a confidential section of a recent Defense Science Board report says Chinese hackers gained access to “more than two dozen” US weapon systems, from missile defense to fighter jets.

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Rapid Fire May 24, 2013: 2012 Selected Acquisition Report Redux

May 24, 2013 11:30 UTC

The Pentagon finally released its Selected Acquisition Report [PDF] for 2012, though a lot of its content had already been revealed by the GAO almost 2 months ago.

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Rapid Fire May 23, 2013: Russian Modernization Threatened by Budget Reality?

May 23, 2013 12:15 UTC

Russia’s finance and defense ministries are considering postponing part of the country’s ambitious military revitalization plans. They must have a big spreadsheet that models what the oil and gas boom in the United States could do to energy prices and the balance of their budget in the coming decade. Kommersant via RIA Novosti | WSJ.

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Rapid Fire May 22, 2013: Republicans Content with Sequestration?

May 22, 2013 11:40 UTC

US Congressman Chris Van Hollen [D-MD, Budget Committee Ranking Member] introduced his 3rd bill proposal to replace sequestration and make Republicans look bad in the process. “The bill caps discretionary defense spending at the levels the President requested through 2021 rather than at the higher defense caps originally set by Budget Control Act.”

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Embraer’s Multinational KC-390 Tactical Air Transport Program

LAS in, LAS out: Counter-Insurgency Planes for the USA and its Allies

Antonov’s Odyssey: AN-70 Program Taking Flight

The USA’s C-27J Joint Cargo Aircraft

Pocket Gunship: From AC-XX to the MC-27J

[NDIA] Joint Logistics Panelists Agree to Shed Weight

[NDIA Logistics Forum] Program Commonalities Good; Long Term Contracts Hard to Pull Off Domestically

[NDIA] US Defense Logistics Undersecretary Can’t Fake Enthusiasm

US Defense Logistics by the Numbers: The Cheatsheet

C-17s for India

C-40 Clippers Hitting Their Stride, Despite Past Controversy

The USA’s JHSV Fast Catamaran Ships

LVSR: The Marines’ Heavy Trucks

USA: Fixed-Wing Transport Contracts for the Central Asian Front

Royal Guard: LAIRCM Systems for Oman & Qatar’s VVIP Jets

From VH-71 to VXX: the Future of US Presidential Helicopters

Saving the Galaxy: The C-5 AMP/RERP Program

KC-46A Aerial Tanker: The USAF’s Top Priority Program

The US Military’s International Airlift Contracts

Iraq Orders C-130Js

Bird Dogs for the Iraqi Air Force

Kuwait the Latest Gulf State in the C-17 Club?

SALIS’ Sibling: NATO’s C-17 Pool Inaugurates In-House Heavy Lift

Royal Pain Relief: Britain’s RAF Adding BAe-146 Jets

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