Russian, US 2014 Armament Exports
- US Foreign Military Sales (FMS) reached $31.2B in FY14 (i.e. ending Sept. 30), and with additional exports handled through other mechanisms, total sales announced by the Defense Security Cooperation Agency (DSCA) reached $34.2B. That’s slightly above the previous year though back in FY12 Saudi Arabia alone accounted for close to $30B in foreign sales.
- Russia has sold $9.8B in military equipement for the first 10 months of the year, according to RIA Novosti quoting the deputy director of Russia’s Federal Service for Military-Technical Cooperation. At that pace they will probably end up behind last year’s $15.7B.
F-35 Agreement
- Lockheed Martin announced they had reached an “agreement in principle” for LRIP 8 procurement of 43 F-35s: 29 US aircraft including 19 F-35As, 6 F-35Bs and 4 F-35Cs, the first 2 F-35As for Israel, the first 4 F-35As for Japan, 2 F-35As for Norway, 2 F-35As for Italy, and 4 F-35Bs for the UK.
Naval Developments
- The US Navy is struggling [Virginian Pilot] to keep up with its maintenance and deployment schedule.
- MBDA is offering an integrated package for small patrol ships: the Sea Ranger system lets customers mix-and-match 1-4 weapon stations with Mistral/ Simbad-RC for short-range air defense, Brimstone 2 for short-range surface attack, and the Marte Mk.2/S light anti-ship missile for medium-range punch.
- Rafael introduced [Defense Update] C-Dome at the Euronaval tradeshow, a navalized Iron Dome C-RAM system.
Ukraine
- After Sunday’s elections it appears Ukraine’s new parliament will lean pro-European [FT].
- Russia will recognize [BBC] a rebel vote in Donetsk and Luhansk scheduled on Nov. 2, whether the Kiev government likes it or not.
- Today’s video comes from CSIS, an American think tank, on Russia’s war, Ukraine’s history, and the West’s options:
Categories: Daily Rapid Fire, Fighters & Attack, Industry & Trends, Israel, Lockheed Martin, Russia, USA
