Brazil’s New-Old Maritime Patrol Aircraft

FAB P-3AM

The discovery of major deepwater oil finds off of Brazil’s coast changed its military priorities. The military’s mission has always been influenced by the land’s vastness, but until recently, that meant keeping a careful watch over the Amazon basin. The Marinha do Brazil had its own role policing the wide swathes of ocean around its long coast, but the air force’s construction was oriented toward supporting the army. Recent years have seen significant changes, as the Navy works to expand its surface fleet and field advanced submarines, and the FAB begins to revitalize its maritime patrol aircraft fleet.

A 2005 contract to buy modernized P-3 Orion long-range sea control planes has created the biggest shift in Brazilian capabilities. The planes began entering service in 2011, and more changes are on the way…

GAO Frets About Tax Liability of Security Clearance Holders

• The US Government Accountability Office (GAO) published a report stating that about 83,000 DOD employees and contractors who held or were eligible for security clearances (out of a total of about 5.1 million) had unpaid federal tax debt totaling more than $730M as of June 30, 2012. Though not technically illegal, that is an obvious vulnerability.

• The US Marines want samples from contractors bidding for its Diver Reconnaissance Vehicle (DRV) program, and while their initial intent was not to pay for these bid samples, they seem inclined to revisit their position, meaning they’d buy and keep the samples. Here’s the industry day slide deck [PPTX].

• Strategy+Business explains how to tell whether an industry is about to be hit by “dematurity”, which aside from being an ugly neologism afflicts disruption by a thousand cuts to unsuspecting firms.

• According to security firm Cyber Engineering Services Inc. (CyberESI), hackers presumably from China hacked into the networks of several Israeli defense firms in 2011-12. Krebs on Security. Update: IAI refuted this report.