* Outer space down under: US, Australia sign accord expanding space surveillance cooperation, which includes joint tracking of space junk, as well as cooperation on the US Wideband Global SATCOM (WGS) and Advanced Extremely High Frequency (AEHF) satellite programs.
* You say you want a revolution: DARPA awards [PDF] 13 META contracts designed to revolutionize defense manufacturing under the Adaptive Vehicle Make (AVM) program.
* No nixing nukes: NATO is likely to retain tactical nukes, such as the B-61 gravity bomb, despite a push by Germany to have them removed.
* KAI pulls out of South Korea’s Baekdu SIGINT (electronic eavesdropping) business jet project, citing DAPA’s $80 million development cost for a plane with fully Korean systems as grossly inadequate. The experience of other countries seems to agree…
* Number of veterans in the new 2010 Congress keeps dropping, but veterans with experience in the current war will nearly double.
* Getting down to business: UK Ministry of Defence lays out priorities for next 5 years in its first-ever business plan [PDF].
* Colombia receives its converted Boeing 767-200ER MMTT aerial tanker/transport from Israel’s IAI.
* That’s using your head: UK’s new Mark 7 combat helmet stops bullets, saves lives.
* Shipbuilder Austal acquires Australian Technology Information Pty Ltd (ATI).
* Kuwaiti defense minister wants to make military pay raises easier by making them a matter of executive degree rather than law. How did that go for the Romans, again?