Rapid Fire, Feb. 15, 2013 – US Senate Hard at Work | France Luckier than Finmeccanica in India

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Ravin’ about Ravens Democrats fell short by one vote to overcome a Republican filibuster of Chuck Hagel’s nomination for Secretary of Defense. Filibusters of cabinet appointees are few and far between, especially when the nominee is from your own party, but the Republican leadership seems to be signaling this is more of a delaying tactic […]
Senator Barbara Mikulski

Ravin’ about Ravens

Democrats fell short by one vote to overcome a Republican filibuster of Chuck Hagel’s nomination for Secretary of Defense. Filibusters of cabinet appointees are few and far between, especially when the nominee is from your own party, but the Republican leadership seems to be signaling this is more of a delaying tactic than a definitive rebuttal. At least the Senate had the wherewithal to congratulate the Baltimore Ravens for winning Super Bowl XLVII, which sounds right out of the Idiocracy movie but we are not making this up. Turns out Appropriations Committee Chairwoman Barbara Mikulski (D-MD) is a huge fan. Program you DVRs to Feb. 26 for season 2, after the Senate’s 10-day recess. Majority Leader Harry Reid | SASC Ranking Member Jim Inhofe | WaPo | The Hill.

* Danny Werfel from the Office of Management and Budget told the US Senate Committee of Appropriations that furloughs triggered by sequestration would not start until April because of legal considerations. Senate | Federal News Radio | GovExec.

* Early next week the US Senate’s majority and minority leaders agreed they will introduce a bill to postpone/dilute/replace/forget-we-ever-brought-it-up sequestration. Define what you mean by “agree.” NYT | Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget.

* After his arrest on Tuesday and replacement as CEO yesterday, Giuseppe Orsi resigned his position as Chairman of Finmeccanica according to the Corriere della Sera [in Italian]. India is going to not just freeze but entirely cancel the allegedly tainted helicopter contract at the heart of that chain of events, reports the Times of India based on a short release from the Indian MoD.

* France and India have “concluded negotiations” on a Rs.30,000 crore (4.5 billion euros / $6B) deal for SR-SAM short range air defense, which means there is a lot of work ahead to finalize co-development and co-production terms, if MMRCA is any indication. Speaking of the Rafale deal, July is the new tentative finalization date. Hindustan Times | India Today | La Tribune [in French].

* France’s new defense whitepaper is late and stalled because it’s hard to explain why funds should be cut if the world is not any less dangerous than when the previous livre blanc was published in 2008, says Jean-Dominique Merchet [in French].

* Andrew Davies at the Australian Strategic Policy Institute looks at top defence contractors and finds that:

“The turnover of the top 12 companies represent 80% of the 2011/12 value of the contracts being managed by [Australia’s Department of] Defence. Of the 12, 8 are the Australian arm of a larger international group, accounting for a 58.3% share. But of the 4 Australian companies, 2 are not providers of high-end capability products or services. […] So let’s get serious—we’re already deep into the world of non-sovereign defence capability.”

* Denmark has shortlisted 5 out of 8 options in a competition to replace its M113 APCs. 5 out of 8 sounds more like a longlist.

* US Army Chief of Staff General Raymond Odierno speaks at the Brookings Institute at 11am ET about the Army’s future challenges. | C-Span.

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