Rapid Fire 2011-10-27: F-35 Contractual Terms | France’s Arms Exports

* The Pentagon wants to radically change the terms of the F-35 contract, and have Lockheed Martin pay for problems discovered through testing, and fixes to already-produced aircraft. Suddenly, the Pentagon’s plan to start production before testing is done has a contractor downside, not just a political engineering upside. * More Q3 ’11 financial results: General Dynamics, Lockheed Martin. * Hackers hit Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, which makes Japanese fighters and missiles, and license-builds Patriot PAC-3 missiles. PCs were infected with a Trojan application designed to send data to an outside server, and an internal investigation found signs that the stolen information had been transmitted. * Boeing delivers the US Navy’s 12th C-40A transport aircraft, derived from the 737. They’re replacing C-9s (DC-9). * Boeing’s P-8A sea control aircraft launches its 1st torpedo, as testing continues. * Denmark is working to narrow choices for its next naval helicopters. The AW159 Lynx Wildcat could succeed its Lynx predecessor, or Denmark could turn to Eurocopter’s AS565 Panther or Sikorsky’s larger S-70/MH-60 Seahawk. * The French Ministry of Defense submitted its annual report [PDF, in French] to parliament on armament exports. France received 5.12 billion euros in orders last year (about $7.2B at current […]