* Raytheon Missile Systems announced it completed test flights of the control test vehicle (CTV) for the Counter-Rocket Artillery Mortar(C-RAM) Accelerated Improved Intercept Initiative (AI3). In February 2013 the US Army had announced a sole sourced 5-year IDIQ contract for the program.
* Rear Adm. (select) Brian K. Antonio will be the next program executive officer for the LCS program. He’s currently deputy chief of staff for fleet maintenance, US Pacific Fleet. Rear Adm. Murdoch has been heading PEO LCS since its creation in 2011.
* The latest Air Land Sea Bulletin [PDF] covers joint close air support doctrine and procedures in detail.
* Australia scoped its geostrategic outlook to what it called the “Indo-Pacific” in its latest defense whitepaper. Here’s one perspective about it as seen from India.
* Brazil’s defense minister Celso Amorim told [in Portuguese] the Federal Senate that it would make sense for the country to spend 2% of GDP on defense within 10 years, up from about 1.5% now.
* Finmeccanica’s Alenia Aermacchi and Turkish Aerospace Industries (TAI) have signed a Memorandum of Understanding to explore possibilities of industrial and commercial cooperation.
* George Mason University’s Mercatus Center released research [PDF] challenging claims that cutting US defense spending will lead to dire consequences for the economy and labor market.