F-35A Completes First Night Refueling Mission

03/26/2012
[caption id="attachment_36572" align="alignleft" width="300" caption="Credit: Lockheed Martin, March 26, 2012"][/caption] The first night refueling in the history of the Lockheed Martin F-35 program was completed Thursday at Edwards Air Force Base, Calif. Piloted by U.S. Air Force Lt. Col. Peter Vitt, AF-4, an F-35A conventional takeoff and landing variant, rendezvoused…

A Grand Strategy To Revive Manufacturing

03/18/2012
by Richard McCormack Manufacturing News http://www.manufacturingnews.com/ March 16, 2012 The United States has no strategy for revitalizing U.S. manufacturing, but representatives from 18 organizations have put forth a set of proposals that could be the foundation of such a policy. Organized by the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation (ITIF), the…

DOD Missing Out of Another Market? Impact of the Super Tucano “Decision”

03/16/2012
While military exports to the U.S. and elsewhere would help, they may not be pivotal, Curado said. Embraer now gets half of its defense sales from the domestic market and sees this slice growing to as much as 75 percent in the next few years, he said. “There’s an opportunity…

The Brazilian Defense Sector

03/11/2012
The Super Tucano “decision” by the USAF has highlighted yet another attempt by Embraer to enter the US defense market.  But not as evident to inside the beltway commenters is the evolution of the combat fighter market.  India has downselected a French aircraft, and the Brazilians will soon choose their…

An Update from Brazil on the Super Tucano “Decision”

03/07/2012
There has been continuing overage in Brazil of the Super Tucano disaster. Recently, William Burns was in Rio to prepare for visit of Dilma Rousseff in April. He was quoted as saying by the "Folha de Sao Paulo" that the US was "still interested" in Super Tucano and also said…

Operating in the Heartland of the Tailban Insurgency

03/06/2012
03/04/2012: As the US engagement in Afghanistan winds down, and the approach to the future is sorted out, Second Marine Division (Forward) has provided interviews with the commanding general of 2nd Marine Division (Forward) which highlight the challenges and successes the Marines and sailors of the division made during their…