What’s Canada Buying? September 15, 2012
- The latest in the Fixed Wing Search and Rescue (FWSAR) search following the latest MERX posting: a bit of tweaking of the original bid document – newest version here.
- F-35 Tug o’ War (1) Whazzup in the U.S. “…. The Joint Strike Fighter Selected Acquisition Report, released at the end of March, included year-by-year production plans for the Pentagon, updated to take account of the cutbacks in low-rate initial production (LRIP) numbers announced at the beginning of the year. Those adjustments keep LRIP rates moderate through the 2014 buy year (2016 delivery, LRIP-9) which sees only 29 aircraft ordered by the Pentagon. Thereafter, Air Force orders increase sharply: 32 in 2015, 48 in 2016 and 2017 and three years at 60 per year. The USAF is shown buying 80 jets in 2021 and continuing that rate until the end of the planned production program. At the same time, the SAR shows unit procurement costs (average procurement unit costs, base-year 2012) declining from scary levels in 2014 ($184 million for the F-35A) to barely more than half that in the 2018 buy. There is one snag. The Air Force’s own statements about its plans don’t support the rates in the SAR ….”
- F-35 Tug o’ War (2) Self-licking ice cream alert: Media asks for documents showing how much media coverage the F-35 story got, does story about how many stories the F-35 fracas generated. No, they didn’t share the obtained documents, either.
- “…. The Department of National Defence requires the supply and delivery of one (1) Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) system as a technology and test & evaluation training device ….”
Written by milnewsca
15 September 12 at 13:00
Posted in F-35 Fracas, What's Canada Buying?
