Hi Bob! * As they had pre-announced yesterday, the Pentagon made their preparations for potential sequestration and furlough notifications official. There's just 4 days left where Congress will be in session before this kicks in. DoD comptroller Bob Hale provides a...
ALAS mock-up(click to view full) The usefulness of over the horizon light precision strike weapons is becoming clear to navies, recently became clear to land forces, and was always clear to air forces. Serbia's Yugoimport has been working on an "Advanced Light Attack...
UAE C-17: 1st delivery(click to view full) The biggest news from the 2009 IDEX exhibition was the UAE's twin selections of medium (12 Lockheed C-130J) and heavy (4 Boeing C-17) transport aircraft. Estimates at the time placed the total value at AED 10.7 billion (about...
* The pre-sequester bad news are now coming full bore: Defense Department set to announce furlough plan (Stars & Stripes) | Navy's budget plan: No Bataan deployment, fewer jets (Virginian-Pilot) | BAE could layoff 1,368 workers (San Diego Union-Tribune). But it's...
* The United Arab Emirates announced $1.4B worth of contracts with Oshkosh ($380M for 750 M-ATVs), General Atomics (near $200M for an unspecified quantity of unmanned Predator UAVs), and others. Talks about the purchase of defanged "Predator XPs" (XP for export, not...
* Gordon Adams, a budget staffer during the Clinton administration, is convinced the Pentagon has plenty of room for backoffice cuts, but thinks the recent announcements are driven by pressure politics: "[DoD and the services] decided to go forward with the most...
Ravin' about Ravens Democrats fell short by one vote to overcome a Republican filibuster of Chuck Hagel's nomination for Secretary of Defense. Filibusters of cabinet appointees are few and far between, especially when the nominee is from your own party, but the...
* In the wake of Giuseppe Orsi's arrest last Tuesday, Finmeccanica's board appointed COO/CFO Alessandro Pansa as the company's CEO. At least until a board meeting coming in April, as the Italian government may want to pump new blood at the head. The matter is taking a...
* Debate in the full US senate about the nomination of Chuck Hagel as Secretary of Defense should start today, following yesterday's far from consensual approval (14-11 following party lines) in the Armed Services Committee. In all likelihood Hagel will be confirmed,...