Free Republic

Qatar, the world’s top liquefied natural gas exporter, is using its gas money to cash in on some top-of-the-line U.S. supplied military hardware. Qatar’s defense minister, Hamad Bin Ali al-Attiyah, met with Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel and signed acceptance letters for $11 billion worth of Apache attack helicopters, Patriot missile defense batteries and anti-tank Javelin missiles, the Pentagon said in a statement Monday. “Today’s signing ceremony underscores the strong partnership between the United States and Qatar in the area of security and defense and will help improve our bilateral cooperation across a range of military operations,” said Rear Adm....

Navy: Europe firm ‘twisting’ facts for $1bn deal Feb 21, 2012 - Sridhar Kumaraswami A big controversy has hit the acquisition of 16 Multi-Role Helicopters for the Indian Navy, a deal estimated to be worth around $1 billion, with the Indian Navy accusing European vendor NH Industries (NHI) of trying to “mislead” the defence ministry, “twist” the Naval Staff Qualitative Requirements (NSQRs), “falsify” the Request for Proposal (RFP) and cause delays with “unreasonable que-ries/concerns”. Docu-ments accessed by this newspaper show the Navy criticised the European firm after it raised doubts about the helicopter of its American rival Sikorsky. This new...

WikiLeaks cables: Spanish PM helped GE beat Rolls-Royce to helicopter deal Ambassador's comments show commercial interests won out over Britain's 'special relationship' with Washington Andrew Clark, business editor guardian.co.uk, Saturday 4 December 2010 Rolls-Royce lost a lucrative contract to supply helicopter engines to the Spanish military because of a personal intervention by Spain's prime minister, José Luis Zapatero, following vigorous lobbying from US diplomats, according to a secret cable from the US embassy in Madrid. Eduardo Aguirre, the departing US ambassador to Spain, recounts behind-the-scenes diplomatic machinations that helped General Electric snatch a deal away from Rolls-Royce to provide engines...

Satisfied with the first twelve NH90 helicopters it bought (and will not receive until next year), Australia has ordered another 34, at a cost of $44 million each. The first twelve were bought to replace Vietnam war era UH-1s. The new lot will replace aging Sea Kings and Blackhawks. Delivery of the 34 helicopters will take place over the next nine years. NH Industries, the European firm the makes the NH90, has been eating into the export market for American made Blackhawk transport helicopters. Over 500 NH90s have been sold so far, and often they beat out Blackhawk for sales....