Rapid Fire: 2010-04-15

* US heavily reliant on China for supply of rare earth metals used in high-tech weapons such as radar, night vision devices, and smart bombs, GAO warns. GAO report [pdf] | Bloomberg | TechNewsDaily * Foreign Policy magazine: “Time Is Of the Essence” to secure nuclear fissile materials around the world from terrorists. Meanwhile, Tehran’s own conference on nuclear proliferation isn’t reassuring many people. * Fresh out of structural concerns, USAF F-15Cs with new APG-82 AESA radars will now shoulder 50% of the “air dominance” burden, to compensate for the F-22A’s production shutdown. * US SOCOM cancels FBO solicitation for the Combatant Craft Medium Mk 1, which was supposed to replace naval special warfare’s Rigid Inflatable Boats. * First 2 Romanian C-27J Spartan light transport aircraft land in Bucharest * US governors, US reps send letter to Pentagon, USAF chiefs opposing USAF plan to take C-130 transport aircraft from the Air National Guard and Reserves to replace aging aircraft. Governors’ and US reps letters to Gates [pdf] | US reps letter to AF secretary [pdf] | Government Executive * NSA Director Lt. Gen. Keith Alexander, who appears Thursday for a Senate confirmation hearing as the first head of the Pentagon […]