Rapid Fire 2011-08-01: X2 Compound Helicopter Design

• EADS follows up its bid to purchase Satair by announcing that its Astrium subsidiary has entered into an agreement to acquire satellite communications provider Vizada for $960 million.

• Boeing delivers the UAE’s 3rd C-17 heavy airlifter.

• Sikorsky intends to begin manufacturing its S-97 Raider X2 compound helicopter design before the summer’s end. That has some implications for the USA’s Armed Aerial Scout program, but their military ambitions for X2 technology extend beyond that.

• South African police are re-opening an arms deal investigation after Saab’s recent admission that its former partner, BAE Systems, offered bribes to secure a contract for 26 JAS Gripen fighters.

• India makes 3 major appointments to oversee their submarine fleet, which will include their Project 75 Scorpene program, the follow on Project 75i, and even their ATV nuclear submarine program.

• In a speech on the eve of China’s Army Day, Defense Minister Liang Guanglie called for the accelerated development of modern logistics and reforms for the Peoples’ Liberation Army (PLA). Liang’s comments came after a senior researcher at the Academy of Military Sciences was quoted as saying that China needs three aircraft carriers.

• Israel’s Defense Forces’ (IDF) Chief of Staff tells the Knesset’s Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee that cutting defense expenditure in favor of social activists’ demands will compromise the IDF’s ability to meet potential threats.

• Russian Navy Commander Admiral Vladimir Vysotsky says that the Black Sea Fleet will receive six Project 636 Kilo class diesel-electric submarines over ‘the next few years’.

• Despite plans to reduce expenditure – and a tight set of bureaucratic regulations – US defense market opportunities are still proving attractive for European contractors.