Rapid Fire 2011-01-18: US to Prioritize Older Systems

* “Most Dangerous Week Ever“? * India’s foreign direct investment cap is crippling the Indian defense industry, argues Sushant Singh of the Takshashila Institution. * Israel Military Industries Ltd. (IMI) to merge with Rafael Advanced Defense Systems Ltd? * Fall of Tunisia’s government looks set to affect that proposed SH-60F helicopter sale covered in July 2010. * Meanwhile, a more natural flood could wash away Brazil’s proposed fighter purchase. * More US defense funds likely to go into repairing, upgrading older systems. * US needs to shore up its air superiority vis-a-vis China, warns the American Enterprise Institute. * Is an arms race in East Asia imminent? * Are American P-3 Orion sea control aircraft hunting narco-smuggler submersibles in the Caribbean? * The GAO is expected to rule in March on a protest over the US Army’s $88 million contract award to Boeing for development of 4 ISR aircraft based on the Hawker Beechcraft King Air 350, under the Enhanced Medium Altitude Reconnaissance and Surveillance System (EMARSS) program. * AM General to lay off 300 workers at its Mishawaka, IN, plant that manufactures Humvees. * Sikorsky Aircraft opens virtual reality center to identify production and maintenance gaps for the USMC’s […]