Thursday May 02, 2013 | 15:45 UTC

Procurement Nadir: India’s Murky, Messed-Up Howitzer Competitions

The New Iraqi Air Force: F-16IQ Block 52 Fighters

Rapid Fire May 2, 2013: Pentagon to Get Sequestration Accommodation?

• The Pentagon may send a request for sequestration flexibility to the House of Representatives’ Appropriations Committee next week, according to an anonymous House Republican aide quoted by Reuters.
  Advertisement

• CACI’s 3rd fiscal quarter (ending on March 31) saw a revenue decline of 2.3% to $906M, while Mantech’s sales dropped by 4.5% to $646M. Both are seeing a limited but tangible impact from sequestration.

• Quick notes on the US Coast Guard’s 5-year capital investment plan.

• A new US firm called Exbellum has an interesting niche: helping special operations troops make the jump to business, and be recognized for their skills. Compared to countries like Israel, American business is very behind in recognizing and valuing military service experience.

• It’s just a platoon with a few tents in the mountains, but China’s incursion over its line of actual control with India – at least by India’s account – has still not been resolved a couple of weeks into it. The Indians are fretting about their operational readiness.

• How much has China really been investing in and/or providing as aid to Africa, and what is the nature of these deals? Some researchers have tried to put together a database, but it turns out to be a complicated endeavor. There’s sometimes less to it than media reports and vague inter-governmental releases would lead to believe.