Rapid Fire 2011-05-16: Goodrich Buys Microtecnica

* Turkey’s current account deficit is hitting levels that worry some observers. High levels have been predictors of economic crises in the past. If that comes to pass, there are a lot of new and pending weapons programs that would be affected. * Turkey’s next-generation fighters are among them. There are reports of growing interest in a split-buy, to reduce dependence on the USA. Italy’s government is pushing Turkey to solve that problem by joining the Eurofighter consortium. Turkey might also pick a hi-low approach, and join existing arms partners South Korea and Indonesia in KF-X. * BAE Systems snags 10-year, $850 million contract to manage the US Army’s Radford ammunition plant in southwest Virginia; stock of incumbent ATK takes a hit. * In the money: EADS posts a net loss of EUR 12 million, on revenues of EUR 9.9 billion, as a result of negative dollar accounting revaluation; however, net cash reserves reach record EUR 12.2 billion (~17.2B USD). * Russian Space Forces plans to test a new Voronezh DM radar being built near Baltic port of Kaliningrad by end of 2011, one of four radars being built to fill radar coverage gaps created by the collapse of the […]