Israel’s Military Exports Down by 12% in 2013
- Israel’s defense exports dropped [Globes] by almost $1B to $6.5B in 2013. Still better than 2011, but lower than 2009-2010 too. For all the talk about Iron Dome, it’s not necessarily meeting requirements from other countries and has been sold [Arutz Sheva] to a single (unnamed) other country.
- Dutch F-16s [Bloomberg], Belgian F-16s [SMH], and Australian Super Hornets conducted their first strikes against ISIS in the past couple of days.
- ISIS issued [IBT] a how-to guide to shoot down attack helicopters. This had actually been a problem for the Americans before in Iraq, until the supply of Iranian MANPADS was choked off. This latest development is not surprising since ISIS includes some of the same people who were fighting back then.
- A suicide bombing [BBC] killed at least 47 people in Sanaa and Hadramawt as Yemen is falling apart.
Northrop Faces Lawsuit Under False Claims Act
- Todd Donaldson, a Northrop Grumman employee for more than 2 decades, alleges in a federal lawsuit [Salt Lake Tribune] that the company has been faking tests of its LN-100 navigation system.
Europe
- Russia’s Finance Minister says their grand rearmament plans are unaffordable [Moscow Times]. With crude oil at $87.5 per barrel? No duh. They need $100.
- Bulgaria plans to ground its Russian-made fighter jets. Problem: the 8 jets mentioned in Bulgaria’s RFPs won’t really replace 6 MiG-21 and 15 MiG-29s, let alone their 14 Su-25 close air support jets.
- Another day, another scramble from a European air force to intercept foreign aircraft [The Local]. From which country near Sweden could the aircraft have come from? The suspense is killing us. Not.
Asia
- Japan and the US are revising their defense cooperation agreement: Yomiuri Shimbun [excerpts of the revised language] | AP.
- Lt. General Wallace Gregson (USMC, Retired) comments on the need to be candid with China in today’s video:
Categories: Australia & S. Pacific, Budgets, China, Daily Rapid Fire, Europe - Other, Iraq, Israel, Japan, Legal, Northrop-Grumman, Russia, Scandals & Investigations, USA
