Rapid Fire: 2010-02-26

• Raytheon team snags $886.4 million contract for GPS OCX advanced control segment.

• PWC reports that aerospace & defense mergers hit a record low in 2009. It wasn’t a good deal year for the chemicals sector, either, but transport and logistics was busy in Q4.

• Portsmouth becomes 5th of 6 UK shipyards involved in building Queen Elizabeth-class aircraft carriers, while Britain’s Conservative Party wants to know more about cancellation options. DID has in-depth coverage of the CVF carriers.

• Harris gets $78 million order for MRAP radios.

• Der Spiegel: A330 flight 447 from Rio to Paris may give new meaning to the term “software crash”; expect blowback into KC-X aerial tanker competition.

• General Dynamics NASSCO delivers USNS Matthew Perry, the 9th T-AKE supply ship, to US Navy’s Military Sealift Command.

• German Army report criticizes the NH90 helicopter for limited capabilities and other deficiencies.

• US Army releases RFP for next-generation armored vehicles.

• Frost & Sullivan: Indian Army’s land combat systems modernization to generate $33.76 billion in revenues.