Rapid Fire Nov. 6, 2012: UK Middle East Sales Tour

“But the claims that Pentagon spending has uniquely salutary economic effects — or, conversely, that cuts will have disproportionately harmful ones — suffer from a basic conceptual error: They ignore the opportunity costs. Simply put, Pentagon spending cuts can be expected — all other factors being equal — to generate greater economic activity elsewhere.”

• Russian President Vladimir Putin fired his defense minister Anatoly Serdyukov, apparently because of the fire sale of military assets. AP.

• SAIC announced who will be appointed to top leadership positions in the 2 companies it is going to split into. Current CEO John Jumper will continue to lead the part in charge of national security, health and engineering solutions.

• Has China set its sights on the Azores where the US Air Force has had a presence since WWII? This may seem like reading a lot from a short stop by a Chinese official earlier this year, but Portugal needs cash and China has shown its appetite for assets of strategic value. Last year’s $3.5B investment from China’s Three Gorges in Portugal’s power supply (EDP) and grid (REN) made it the largest shareholder in Portuguese electricity overnight.

• You may think your program is still at the pre-Major Defense Acquisition Programs (MDAP) stage because it is not listed as such by the US DoD’s Acquisition Resources and Analysis (ARA), but a Q&A on the Defense Acquisition University’s website suggests that if it walks and quacks like a duck, that’s what it is. The distinction is not purely semantic, as MDAPs (latest list) are subject to a whole extra layer of regulatory oversight and documentation.