Rapid Fire July 3, 2012: Sinkex Abstinence No More

* Poland has ordered another 5 of Airbus Military’s C295 light tactical transports, for an undisclosed price. That will bring its fleet to 16, making Poland the type’s biggest single customer. * The 3,750t Dutch OPV, HNLMS Holland, is impressing American allies over at Key West, FL, as it begins work in the Caribbean. * While sailing on its first mission, into the Persian Gulf, USS New York (LPD 21) becomes the 1st American ship of its type to embark an Army AH-64D Apache attack helicopter. * The US Navy is going to resume sink exercises (sinkex) during RIMPAC later this month. * Rear Admiral Davyd Thomas, Deputy Chief of the Royal Australian Navy between 2008 and 2011, has been appointed Vice President of Austal’s defense business. * MBDA continues work on its SPEAR Capability 3 project, which will re-use components from the dual-mode Brimstone light strike missile in a larger body with a 75 km range. The idea is to have each F-35A/C bay able to fit 1 MBDA Meteor long-range air-to-air missile (which just finished testing) and 4 SPEAR 3s. Britain’s F-35B, with its smaller and oddly-shaped bays, will be more of a challenge, and neither SPEAR nor […]