Rapid Fire 2012-01-31: BRAC Big Refusal Action Committee

Jan 31, 2012 08:15 UTC by Defense Industry Daily staff
  • Some F-35s were grounded last week for a few days until replacement ejection seats are received. Parachutes were improperly packed, said [PDF] the F-35 Joint Program Office (JPO).
  • The F-35 is what the Air Force plans to use for close-air support in place of A-10 squadrons lined up for closure. Between this and cancellation of the C-27J, the Army is sure to be delighted. This is likely to be contentious in Congress, though opposition to another BRAC will be much stronger. But are talks of another round of base closures just a clever sideshow?
  • To what extent an army should have its own aviation is an old question revisited by the Center for Land Warfare Studies in India.
  • If you look at defense spending relative to GDP, per capita, or as a percentage of total government spending, then the US remains way ahead of the European Union, as shown in data gathered [PDF] by the European Defence Agency.

  • Section 231.205-18 of US defense acquisition regulations (DFARS) was amended to require major contractors to report independent research and development (IR&D) projects to the Defense Technical Information Center (DTIC). The rule is effective as of Jan. 30, 2012 and applies to “those contractors whose covered segments allocated a total of more than $11,000,000 in IR&D/Bid and Proposal (B&P) costs to covered contracts during the preceding fiscal year.” Here is the DTIC website where contractors are asked to upload their data.

  • MV22s scheduled to be deployed at the U.S. base in Okinawa, Japan, will run test flights to address local residents’ concerns about noise levels.

  • A student at the US Naval Postgraduate School is assessing the data-gathering potential of solar-powered, wave-propelled unmanned surface vehicles that might provide a cheap, mobile alternative to moored buoys for maritime surveillance.

    • Categories: Budgets, Daily Rapid Fire, Fighters & Attack, Legal, Official Reports, R&D - Contracted, Sensors - Aquatic

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