Morning Coffee: Navy Releases Details on Fire Scout Crashes

Welcome to Morning Coffee, a robust blend of links to news around the Internet concerning Naval Air Station Patuxent River, NAVAIR, the Pentagon and beyond. The Leader provides this link feature as a survey of the news and announcements affecting the local military economy. The opinions expressed here do not necessarily reflect those of the Leader’s owners or staff.

MQ-8B Fire Scout photo courtesy of Northrop Grumman

The Navy releases details on the two mishaps that caused the Fire Scout program to ground its fleet of vehicles.

AOL Defense profiles a Navy pilot who is bypassing the procurement bureaucracy to engage entrepreneurs.

The Canadian Defense Ministry, a key partner in the development of the Joint Strike Fighter, has been barred from buying the jet, or anything else, for that matter, The Hill reports. The Hill also sees Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff lobbying the White House on behalf of his native aerospace firm, Embraer, who won an initial Combat Dragon contract, until the Air Force yanked it away.

Congress is preparing to take up the defense spending debate (subscription required) again next week, Defense Daily reports. Washington Technology asks if the IT industry has moved past the fear of budget cuts.

DoD says it will take action to ramp up domestic production if China cuts off the supply of rare earth metals, Bloomberg reports.