Rapid Fire July 5, 2013: Spat Within Indian Government Over Foreign Defense Investment

Jul 05, 2013 18:30 UTC by Defense Industry Daily staff

Indian Defence Minister A.K. Antony is sparring with his colleague Anand Sharma from Commerce and Industry over what should be the maximum share foreign firms can own in defense joint ventures. Antony has made his support for developing a homegrown defense industry abundantly clear since last year, while Sharma would like to see the foreign direct investment (FDI) limit raised from 26% to 49% in the defense sector (down from an earlier proposal to set that ceiling at 74%). Telegraph of Calcutta | The Pioneer.

That said, an unnamed Indian company is looking for a European partner to form a joint venture working on components including gyros, accelerometers, actuators, IR & RF components. See UK Trade & Investment for more details.

Was President Morsi’s overthrow by Egypt’s military technically a coup? Definitions matter as a condition to more than $1.5B of US aid to the country, most of which for the military.

From a civilian US DoD employee interviewed by The Day, on the consequences of furloughs: “We all have secret clearances and if we screw up and don’t pay our bills, we can lose our secret clearances. That puts us on the street if we can’t do our job.”

The UK Ministry of Defence released a Defence Reform Bill meant to improve equipment procurement and restructure reserve forces, as well as an impact assessment [PDF] meant to explain the bill. As the MoD has been telegraphing for about a year, the “preferred option is to create a Government-Owned, Contractor-Operated (GOCO) entity” to reform the Defence Equipment and Support (DE&S) organisation.

The AIAA’s Aerospace America offers a worldwide UAV roundup [PDF].

Finmeccanica appointed Giovanni De Gennaro as its new chairman. He headed Italy’s police between 2000 and 2007, then a recently-founded intelligence agency between 2008 and 2012. Company statement | La Repubblica

France’s DGA procurement agency and MBDA successfully executed the 1st qualification test [in French] of the MDCN naval cruise missile which will eventually equip FREMM frigates and Barracuda submarines.

China and Russia are starting a large-scale joint naval exercise in the Sea of Japan. Be careful, what happens in Vladivostok doesn’t stay in Vladivostok. More in the RIA Novosti video below:

Categories: Africa - Other, Britain/U.K., China, Daily Rapid Fire, Finmeccanica, France, India, Missiles - Anti-Ship, People, Procurement Innovations, Russia, UAVs, USA

Rapid Fire July 5, 2013: Spat Within Indian Government Over Foreign Defense Investment

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