Morning Coffee 8-9-11

MQ-8B Fire Scout onboard the USS McInerney. (Photo courtesy of Northrop Grumman)

A robust blend of news from Naval Air Station Patuxent River, NAVAIR, the Pentagon and beyond:

• Lockheed gets $535 million for Lot 6 of the JSF, and Boeing gets $34 million for Osprey trainers.
• US could cut jets from JSF Lot 5 to cover increased development costs.
• Aviation Week declares that Washington is broken.
• Brookings Institution holding panel discussion on military budget cuts.
• Office of Naval Research prioritizes aviation.
• Fire Scout to deploy aboard frigate USS Simpson in 2012. (subscription required)
• European austerity beginning to crumble defense supply chain.