Rapid Fire July 9, 2012: Flying in a Furnace

* France has begun qualification trials of Sagem/MBDA’s dual-mode laser/GPS-guided SBU-64 AASM Hammer rocket-assisted smart bombs. * Meanwhile, Raytheon found a novel way to integrate its competing Enhanced Paveway laser/GPS smart bombs onto France’s Rafale fighters – go wireless. * The first 2 radar “faces” for the new Hobart Class air defense destroyer have arrived in Australia. They’ll be part of Hobart’s AN/APY-1D (V), which has 3 faces. * The European Union is likely to approve the acquisition of Goodrich by United Technologies, according to Reuters. * Sikorsky is looking for growth in emerging economies such as India, Brazil, or Turkey. * Some analysts think Raytheon is in a better position to weather budget cuts than most defense firms. * Flying at Mach 20 is done (by whomever can pull it off) under intense thermal and pressure conditions but this doesn’t deter DARPA from investigating how to do so. They will have an industry day on “Integrated Hypersonics” on August 14 in Arlington, VA. * The US Army War College recently published the 5th edition of its Guide to National Security Issues: Vol I and Vol II [free PDFs]. * A Brazilian pilot died on Saturday in the crash [in […]