• India is planning to boost its defense spending by 11.6% in the next fiscal year to counter China’s growing military capabilities.

• How was the Stuxnet attack on Iran targeted?

• But a recent IAEA report says enrichment and production has continued at Natanz despite the Stuxnet slowdown, and adds that Iran continues to prepare military delivery vehicles etc. for nuclear weapons.

• Steel cut to begin CVN 79, the 2nd carrier in the Gerald R. Ford class. If only budgets and funding could be as certain.

• According to Defense Minister Anatoly Serdyukov, Russia is still planning to supply supersonic P-800 Yakhont anti-ship cruise missiles to Syria, despite US and Israeli opposition.

• Advanced Russian S-300 anti-aircraft missiles are also on their way to Venezuela, now that a timeline has been agreed. There have been rumblings for a few months now that Iran’s requested missiles could be headed that way instead.

• Oshkosh job fair attracts over 1,700 applicants to fill between 650 and 750 positions to build US Army tactical vehicles.

• On the other hand, Frost & Sullivan expects a steep drop in US military tactical vehicle market, from $4.45 billion in 2010 to just $740 million in 2015.

• SAIC gets $25 million contract to provide management planning and systems integration services to the US Navy Strategic Systems Programs Command.

• Harris secures $14 million order from Brazil to provide Falcon III RF-7800V VHF handheld combat net radios and Falcon II AN/PRC-150-C [PDF] HF manpack radios.

• Expand your intellectual horizons a bit, and meet Gene Sharp... the unsung, mostly-unknown thinker whose ideas and approaches have underpinned many modern non-violent uprisings. You might want to read former Soviet dissident Natan Sharansky’s current thoughts after that. Both can provide insights into counterinsurgency and the “3 block war.”

• America’s under-performing STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Math) education is widely seen as a slow-motion crisis by the industry. Former hedge fund manager Sal Khan and The Khan Academy say… YouTube to the rescue!

• GAO reports: DoD is having trouble counting [PDF] all of its service contractors; Defense Business Transformation initiative [PDF] has flaws; and ballistic missile defense plan for Europe has unrealistic cost estimates [PDF].

• Is Pentagon chief Robert Gates planning to stay for awhile?

• GE’s joint venture with China’s Avic, to produce advanced open architecture avionics, is raising some eyebrows.

• Oskhosh is adding 650 to 750 jobs to handle increased orders for US military vehicles.

• Czech defense spending expected to increase 4.15% in 2011, as country increases deployments in Afghanistan, according to BMI.

• French defense spending is predicted to increase at a modest rate of below 2% per year, reaching EUR 52.9 billion in 2019, according to BMI.

• UK MOD bottled water plant bottles 48,000 liters of water per day from hard coral strata beneath Camp Bastion in Helmand Province, Afghanistan.

• Footlong Sub: Iranian navy takes delivery of 4 Ghadir class midget submarines, the 1st Iranian-built class of submarine, which is thought to be based on the North Korean Sang-O class coastal submarine.

• Bulking Up: Iran says it is beefing up its indigenous Mersad air defense system, which uses Shahin missiles, by adding new radar, while Russia and Ukraine deny reports of selling S-300 air defense missiles to Iran.

• First 11 Iraqi M1 Abrams tanks arrive at Umm Qasr.

• Kyrgyz Base: US is building a $10 million training base in Osh in southern Kyrgyzstan; the US already operates the Manas Air Base in the country, which serves as a transit center for supplies and troops going to Afghanistan.

• Bump in the Road: Despite a tripling of its defense segment sales, Oshkosh saw its stock price plummet on investor fears that the market for military trucks will dry up in the next few years.

• The global market for unmanned undersea vehicles (UUVs) is expected to reach $12 billion over the next decade, including $1.2 billion for UUV power systems, according to AlumiFuel Power, a supplier of hydrogen-sourced power systems.

• CSC gets a $28 million task order, under the Flight School XXI contract, to supply simulator-based flight and related aviation training support to the US Army Aviation Center of Excellence at Fort Rucker, AL.

• Alternate QDR: “We cannot reverse the decline of shipbuilding, buy enough naval aircraft, recapitalize Army equipment, buy the F-35 requirement, purchase a new aerial tanker, increase deep strike capability, and recapitalize the bomber fleet just by saving $10-15 billion dollars that the Department of Defense hopes to save through acquisition reform.”

• Oh My Gosh: Oshkosh’s defense segment sales nearly triple to $1.7 billion in the firm’s fiscal year 2010 third quarter fueled by M-ATV sales. Oshkosh release

• Meanwhile, Voice of America says that troops love them, but there’s at least one M-ATV design issue Oshkosh might want to look at.

• With a Little Help: ITT snags two US Army Corps of Engineers contracts worth up to $800 million to help the Afghan Army and other sections of the Afghanistan National Security Forces operate and maintain facilities and train personnel.

• The US/UK’s AFRICAP program will provide Thales tactical radios for the Congo’s armed forces.

• Hurry Up: The British government tells ITT to speed up its delivery of 11,000 third-generation helmet-mounted night vision goggles to early next year, BBC reports.

• That So Modular: BAE Systems gets a $9.6 million order for US Army modular quick-release backpacks, known as Modular Lightweight Load Carrying Equipment (MOLLE).

• WGS-3 high-bandwidth, secure communications satellite formally enters service with USAF.

• Boeing delivers its 100th CH-47F heavy-lift helicopter.

• Raytheon delivers its 200th APG-79 AESA radar to Boeing, for use of Super Hornet family fighters.

• The US supply chain, which is heavily IT-dependent, is vulnerable to disruption from cyber attack, warns a new report [pdf] from the US Naval Institute and CACI.

• USMC Gen. James Mattis: “Power Point makes us stupid” – including on the front lines. If you must use it, but don’t want Microsoft to be worth a division or 2 to the enemy, “Preparing More Powerful Presentations” has some tips.

• 40% of the 9,000 additional NATO troops pledged in December 2009 have arrived in a stabilizing Afghanistan, according to a US DoD report to Congress [PDF].

• Testimony lists surveillance shortfalls as biggest handicap in dealing with Latin america’s narco-terrorists. A growing armada of semi-submersible smuggling vessels don’t make that job any easier.

• Strategy Analytics: US defense industry demand will represent 50% of $376 million GaN microelectronics market by 2014.

• 6 issues in military robotics.

• First KC-130J “Harvest Hawk” gunship kit completes Phase 1 testing; laser/GPS-guided “Viper Strike” now part of initial combat fielding for summer 2010.

• French legal team arrives in Kuala Lumpur to probe corruption charges over the 2002 sale of Scorpene-class diesel submarines to the Malaysian government.

• Former Malaysian general, 4 other retired senior officers file $1.6 million lawsuit for wrongful dismissal over the theft of 2 F-5E fighter jet engines.

• The Defense Information Systems Agency is holding the Customer Partnership Conference May 3-7 in Nashville to get US military service and industry input.

ATLAS II

$85.7 million order for 492 ATLAS rough terrain forklifts. (April 6/10)

If you are looking for a forklift that can lift 10,000 pounds 17 feet in the air and travel at speeds up to 23 mph, then the All Terrain Lifter Army System (ATLAS) rough terrain forklifts might be just what you are looking for.

The ATLAS forklift can reach into trucks or shipping containers, lift loads over obstacles, and pick up loads from both above and below grade.

Manufactured by Oshkosh unit JLG Industries, the ATLAS comes in 2 varieties: the plain old ATLAS and the souped up ATLAS II, which includes cool multifunction attachments, high ground clearance, and lower emissions.

Once the counterweight is detached, ATLAS is good to go on a C-130, C-141, C-5A or C-17 transport aircraft…

• USAF is expected to issue final terms for $35 billion aerial tanker competition this week.

• DEW Line: who is behind the dual-sourcing lobby for KC-X?

• USA to retire its BGM-109A nuclear Tomahawk cruise missiles.

• Dutch cabinet collapse freezes F-35 buy [in Dutch]; plane may become an election issue.

• Oshkosh to sell $500 million in senior notes to repay debt.

• USAF: No, we aren’t buying the airborne laser.

• What’s next for BAE’s Mantis close-support UCAV?

• Jacobs secures $38.7 million contract to support transition of Navy Marine Corps Intranet to the NGEN network.

• Taiwan prepares to order a $6.45 billion weapons package, sparks predictable diplomatic huffing.

• The Pentagon plans to replace the official in charge of the F-35 JSF program and withhold $614 million in performance fees from Lockheed Martin for failing to meet key goals. At the same time Pratt & Whitney delivered the 1st F135 production engine for the F-35 aircraft.

• Sikorsky is investing $1 billion to develop an unmanned Black Hawk helicopter, which it hopes to have ready by 2015.

• USS George H.W. Bush [CVN 77] redelivered; its strike group will soon have the first female CSG commander in US Navy history.

• Shares of major US defense companies gained in trading following the unveiling of the Obama administration’s FY 2011 defense budget that would increase defense spending by 3.4%.

• The US Missile Defense Agency (MDA) had another setback in its effort to build a ballistic missile defense, when its Sea-Based X-band radar failed to track a target missile during a test at the Kwajalein Atoll in the South Pacific. MDA is also looking for a supplier for its target missiles.

• Prime contractor CSC gets $261 million in orders to provide IT and logistics services under the US Army’s Logistics Modernization Program.

• USAF orders more of Lockheed’s Sniper ATP surveillance & targeting pods.

• Rolls Royce scores a $146 million order to provide another year of C-130J fleet engine support.

• Singapore unveils its new G550 AWACS aircraft.

• Raytheon/Boeing’s JAGM missile contender finishes captive test flights.

• Raytheon BBN announces a successful ad-hoc networking experiment under DARPA’s WNaN effort.

• EMB-314 Super Tucano turboprops for Indonesia? How about Britain?

• Human Terrain System intel program, rebooted.

• UAE doubles down on Italian Commandanti Class variant corvettes. Original $117 million order for 2 placed during IDEX 2009.

• USAF announces shift in C-17’s sustainment plans.

• SBIRS-High missile warning satellite program inches ahead.

• RQ-7 Shadow UAVs for Pakistan.

• Another month, another Predator UAV crash.

• Elbit laser designators to Israel, “North American customers”.

• US Army incorporates front-line lessons into a standardized advanced marksmanship course.

• Oshkosh to research light aluminum/ magnesium alloys with the strength of cast steel.

• Tweets from spaaaaace!