Canada's aerospace industry could lose about $10.5 billion worth of contracts over several decades if the federal government ultimately decides not to purchase the controversial F-35 Stealth Fighter, says a senior executive at Lockheed Martin.Economic blackmail.
Orlando Carvalho, executive vice-president of the U.S. defence giant, says Lockheed will honour $500 million worth of business already awarded to Canadian partners but that other work would be in jeopardy without a Canadian jet order.
"If in fact the Canadian government were to decide not to select the F-35 we will certainly honour the contracts that we have here with the Canadian industry but our approach in the future would be to try to do business with the industries that are in the countries that are buying the airplane," he said in an interview after officially opening its new engine overhaul facility in Montreal.
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| Affordable is officially a joke now...Canada is being pressured despite budgeting x-amount of dollars and only being able to buy many less than required fighters...same with others...including the Pentagon. |
Fifteen former Air Force chiefs have written to President Park Geun-hye calling on her to procure stealth bombers. They said Korea should "give top priority to stealth functions" for the next-generation F-X fighter procurement project, regardless of the budget.I'm not shocked by this.
A total amount of W8.3 trillion (US$1=W1,085) has been earmarked for the project to buy 60 fighter jets.
All of the retired Air Force chiefs who are still alive signed the letter, except for six who are ill or overseas.
"Originally, the Air Force gave priority to the capabilities of fighter jets in order to respond to threats from North Korea or potential threats from neighboring countries," they said in the letter sent on Aug. 29. "But if the project is implemented under the current parameters," which put the priority on price, "the Air Force would have to select the F-15SE, which has poorer stealth function."
There are three candidates, but the other two -- the Lockheed Martin F-35A and EADS Eurofighter -- have more or less been knocked off the list because they are too expensive.
The former Air Force chiefs urged Park not to assess the models based on their bid prices alone but carry out a comprehensive evaluation of all models.
But they do not want the project halted and started from scratch, since that would leave a vacuum in the country's defenses. Instead, they urged Park to secure additional funds.
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| An AD-5 Skyraider of Marine Attack Squadron (VMA) 332 pictured on the ground in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, on September 12, 1955, fifty-eight years ago today |
LONDON, United Kingdom, Sept. 12, 2013 – Thirteen British companies and the U.K. Minister of Defence Equipment, Support and Technology participated in a Lockheed Martin [NYSE: LMT] Industry Recognition Event during the DSEI tradeshow today. Over the next 40 years, British industry will continue to play a vital role in the F-35’s global production, follow-on development and sustainment, bringing strong economic benefits to the kingdom.Read the whole thing here.
“The F-35 is the largest defence programme in the world,” said U.K. Minister of Defence Equipment, Support and Technology Philip Dunne. “The U.K.’s involvement will generate billions of pounds and tens of thousands of jobs for the British economy for decades to come, with over 500 suppliers across the U.K. already contributing to the production of the F-35. Backed by this government's strategic vision for U.K. aerospace, the F-35 programme allows us to continue to build on the strengths of our nations avionics, systems and sensors industry.”
Steve O’Bryan, vice president, F-35 Business Development, Lockheed Martin Aeronautics added, “Our suppliers here in the U.K. are essential to the success of this program. Together, they will produce 15 percent of each one of the more than 3,100 F-35s planned for the global fleet. We are leveraging their proud legacy of innovation in aerospace to deliver this unprecedented capability to the warfighter.”
Reports that militants are preparing another attack — this time against Israel — cannot be ignored.What did he just do there?
Defense officials say the Navy is looking at an array of options, including buying fewer coastal warships built by Lockheed Martin Corp and Australia's Austal, and delaying orders for the Navy's F-35 C-model, also built by Lockheed to land on aircraft carriers.Follow the link to read the whole thing but make no mistake about it...
Lockheed, Austal and other Navy suppliers such as General Dynamics and Huntington Ingalls Industries Inc are awaiting news about how the Navy would cut spending in its fiscal 2105 budget plan now being prepared.
The services are working to finalize their plans in coming days so they can send them to top Pentagon leaders for review.
Mabus said the Navy was doing all it could to protect training and readiness, but warned that if the cuts stayed in place, sailors and Marines might have to deploy without adequate training within 12 to 18 months.
Training and maintenance had already been scaled back, while protecting funding needed for deployments, but the forecast cuts would eventually begin to affect those areas, he said.
He said naval forces remained in the Middle East at the ready to deal with Syria, but ongoing budget cuts could undermine the Navy's ability to provide those military options to the president in the future.
"Unless we act to address the damage of continuing resolutions and sequestration, there are options which may be limited or just not available in the future," Mabus said.
Continued budget cuts could force the Navy to eliminate more than three dozen planned maintenance periods for its warships, and ground more than 200 aircraft.
Mabus also warned that the Navy's efforts to rebuild its fleet and drive down acquisition costs would be jeopardized if budget cuts forced it to break multiyear acquisition contracts.
If the Navy has to choose between carriers with Super Hornets or fewer carriers with F-35Cs, the more carrier argument will win everytime.Its nothing sinister. Its just the way things are.
AFP - Russian President Vladimir Putin will offer to supply Iran S-300 air defence missile systems as well as build a second reactor at the Bushehr nuclear plant, the Kommersant business daily reported Wednesday.Well that didn't take long.
Putin will renew an old offer to supply Iran with five of the sophisticated ground-to-air missile systems at a meeting with Iranian President Hassan Rowhani on Friday, Kommersant said, quoting a souce close to the Kremlin.
Putin is set to meet Rowhani at a summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation held in Kyrgyzstan on Friday.
The Howitzer, Self-propelled 105mm M52 / M52A1 was developed starting in 1948 as one of a set of post-WW II self-propelled artillery weapons. It replaced the M-7 Priest 105mm SP and M37 105mm HMC. With the advent of the Cold War with the Soviet Union, the Army specified that the new artillery platforms would be fully enclosed to provide not only protection from conventional weapons, but also for the NBC protection required by the nuclear battlefield.This is the granddaddy of the M-109.
The M-52 was based on components of the M41 Walker Bulldog Light Tank. The rear track idler wheel was lowered to the ground to resist firing shock and no recoil spade was provided. The engine and transmission were in the front section of the hull, while the rear hull was the base of a large turret with a 60° traverse left or right of center. The turret had access doors and hatches for the driver, gunner, and commander. An anti-aircraft .50 cal. machine gun was mounted at the commander's hatch. During development, the vehicle was known as the T98, then the T98E1 which was standardized as the M-52.
The main gun of the M-52 was the 105mm M49 Howitzer.
A total of 684 M-52 105mm Self-propelled Howitzers were built by Allis-Chalmers Mfg. Co. in Milwaukee, WI starting in 1954.
