Afghanistan to US: Would You Consider Staying A Little Longer?

by Editorial Staff | Dec 8, 2014 | Asia - Central, Asia - Other, China, Daily Rapid Fire, DID site, Israel, Mergers & Acquisitions, United Technologies

* It’s not an official request yet, but Afghan President Ashraf Ghani would like the US to slow its drawdown in the next 2 years. US Industry * According to the WSJ former United Technologies CEO Louis Chenevert left the company after its board discussed...

South Korea’s 2015 Defense Budget Up 4.9%

by Editorial Staff | Dec 5, 2014 | Daily Rapid Fire, Engineering Vehicles, Germany, Iraq, IT - Cyber-Security, Logistics, Pre-RFP, Russia, USA

* According to the Korea Herald, South Korea’s 2015 defense budget has been finalized by parliament at 37.4 trillion won ($33.4B), a 4.9% increase slightly below what the ministry had asked. 11.1 trillion won ($9.9B) is allocated to procurement. US DoD...

New Zealand’s ANZAC Frigates Getting Combat Upgrades

by Joe Katzman | Dec 4, 2014 | Australia & S. Pacific, Canada, Contracts - Awards, Contracts - Intent, Electronics - General, Eng. Control Systems, Lockheed Martin, MBDA, Missiles - Surface-Air, Other Corporation, Protective Systems - Naval, Radars, Surface Ships - Combat, Thales

NZ ANZACs(click to view full) It’s time to modernize New Zealand’s only serious combat ships. New Zealand bought 2 ANZAC frigates in the 1990s, as a cooperative venture with Australia using the MEKO 100 German design. F77 Te Kaha was commissioned in 1996,...

ASTROS 2020 MLRS: Brazil’s Industrial Investment in Precision Strike

by Joe Katzman | Dec 4, 2014 | Brazil, Contracts - Awards, Contracts - Intent, Industry & Trends, Issues - Political, Lockheed Martin, Middle East - Other, Missiles - Precision Attack, New Systems Tech, Other Corporation, Policy - Procurement, R&D - Contracted, Rockets, Spotlight articles, Tanks & Mechanized, USA

Saudi ASTROS-II(click to view full) At the end of August 2011, Brazil’s Ministerio da Defesa announced the beginning of a BRL 1.09 billion (about $685 million) project to update Avibras’ ASTROS (Artillery SaTuration ROcket System) multiple rocket launcher...

DARPA Seeks Better Targeting Support for Tactical Airborne Surveillance and Strike

by Editorial Staff | Dec 4, 2014 | Airbus, Asia - Central, Australia & S. Pacific, Daily Rapid Fire, DARPA, Germany, India, Israel, Issues - International, Legal, Logistics Innovations, Pre-RFP, Russia, Scandals & Investigations, UAVs, USA

* DARPA is organizing a proposer’s day [FBO] on December 16 in Arlington, VA, to discuss the Target Recognition and Adaption in Contested Environment (TRACE), a program meant to “develop algorithms and techniques that rapidly and accurately identify...