Americas
* The on-again, off-again Air Force comparison test between the F-35 and the A-10 for close air support is back on again, according to the Washington Times. The F-35 doesn’t carry – and isn’t anticipated to carry – the sorts of weapons that have proven useful in the typical CAS mission. It has but a few seconds of canon ammunition and its weapons bay was once compared to a purse after the F-35C variant further infringed on internal storage. A test between the platforms would likely hinge on the scenario imagined by the Air Force brass, so a cynic might expect a profusion of bogeys best handled by stealth fighters.
* The AIM-9X Sidewinder Block II got the full production go-ahead.
* A former Army Times reporter is releasing a book on JSOC, which appears to have made USSOCOM grumpy, although author Sean Naylor says he is revealing nothing operationally useful to enemies and hasn’t been given any classified documents.
* A fairly radical reform of the Pentagon’s hiring, pay, promotion and evaluation processes is sitting with the SecDef now, just reaching the stage where various administrations, services and legislative bodies will have the opportunity to take pot shots at the plan. Put simply, Ash Carter has been concerned that the military is decent at producing its radio maintenance staff, but that the existing hiring system is anathema to someone who would be likely to be a good coder. The plans measures to address that problem haven’t yet been spelled out publicly.
* DARPA is exploring the concept of using airborne carriers to launch and recover swarms of drones to accomplish traditional missions normally assigned to human-jockeyed fighters and bombers.
* KBR is taking full advantage of the indemnification clause the U.S. Government signed for much of its work in Iraq, leading to the recent judgement indicating the U.S. is on the hook for about $30 million in legal expenses for various nether dealings in the theater. The Project on Government Oversight points out that there are many more contracts from this period where the U.S. took on general liabilities.
* The Pentagon is investing $75 million in a new research center of sorts dedicated to wearable tech. Lots of large firms, universities, bureaucracies and states and local governments have been invited to share pieces of this pie in the hopes that the center – to be located somewhere south of San Francisco – can create useful technologies worth fielding.
Europe
* Iraq cancelled 16 contracts [Italian] worth $3.5 billion for what it termed were likely corrupt deals. $1.5 billion is going to go toward new contracts – including a new one for An-178s – and the remainder will revert to the treasury.
Middle East
* The Ka-52 helicopter export contract mentioned back in June at the Paris Air Show appears to involve Egypt’s acquisition of 50 of the attack helicopters.
Today’s Video
* The older version of the 9x Sidewinder…
