• Researchers find that helmets with 1/8 inch more foam padding would offer better protection against soldiers’ brain injuries.

• DoD issues 27 contracts totaling $191 million under the Multidisciplinary University Research Initiative program for academic research projects [PDF] with potential military applications.

• DARPA is looking for industry help in developing “flexible/robust energy storage systems” that can use renewable energy sources for forward operating bases.

• Up to $163 million [PDF] to General Dynamics for demilitarization of 8 munitions families including high explosive bombs, improved conventional munitions, fuzes, Explosive D bombs and ammunition ranging for 25mm to 106mm calibers at the US Army Contracting Command in Rock Island, IL.

• Japan is seeking stronger military ties with the US, says Japanese Defense Minister Toshimi Kitazawa.

• AME conducts first test flight of Fury 1500 STUAS powered by a heavy-fuel engine at the Fort Hunter Liggett range on California’s central coast.

• Calibre gets contract worth up to $45 million contract to provide IT and program management support services to the Army National Guard’s Logistics and the Aviation and Safety Divisions.

• DoD wants to speed adoption of mobile and and cloud IT technologies, says Chief Information Officer Teri Takai.

Off we go…

The USAF uses its simplified acquisition of base engineering requirements (SABER) contract to fulfill engineering requirements on a variety of projects, ranging from small renovations to large scale infrastructure needs involving pipelines, electrical substations, and life safety issues.

The SABER contract’s main purpose is to expedite contract award of civil engineer requirements through the issuance of individual delivery orders. The contract contains a collection of detailed task specifications that include most types of real property maintenance, repair, and construction work. A number of SABER contracts have been awarded…

• Defense spending would total $513 billion under the compromise FY 2011 continuing resolution (CR) unveiled [PDF] by the House Appropriations Committee, a reduction of $18.1 billion from what the Obama administration wanted but $5 billion more than last year. Still, the use of the CR to fund the federal government for the rest of FY 2011 will leave many defense programs in limbo.

• Show me the money: Russian Helicopters plans to raise $500 million in an initial public offering on the London and Russian exchanges.

• Boeing could lose out on Joint Tactical Radio System’s Ground Mobile Radios (JTRS GMR), as the US Army balks at potential $300,000 costs. US Army networks division chief Col. Jim Carpenter says they’ll publish requirements instead, and ask companies to conduct their own R&D to meet the service’s needs. That could be good news for firms like Harris, Thales, and General Dynamics.

• Faced with delays of 3 years and more to its Scorpene program, and questions about industrial structure for the follow-on Project 75i, India turns to HDW to upgrade its existing U209-1500 “Shishumar” boats for longer service life.

• Embraer and Elbit deepen their relationship by creating a joint venture to market unmanned air systems in Brazil. Elbit’s Hermes 450 UAV is already in limited use there with the FAB.

• Blame it on Rio: The Russian defense industry sees great potential for arms exports to Brazil and other Latin American countries.

• Major US Coast Guard acquisition programs are at cost, schedule, or program acquisition risk due to flawed acquisition management and unrealistic budget planning, warns GAO.

• Teal Group worldwide mission model identifies 2,315 space payloads over the 2011-2030 time frame, an increase of 4% over last year’s count – 20% of those are for military missions.

• Lockheed Martin gets $176 million contract extension to provide depot maintenance products and support at USAF Air Logistics Centers in Ogden, UT; Oklahoma City, OK; and Warner Robins, GA.

• Raytheon delivered 366 of its popular RIM-162 Evolved Sea Sparrow Missiles in 2010, which are used by customers around the world for medium range naval air defense. That’s more than double 2009’s total, while using an international manufacturing base.

• Lockheed Martin completes delivery of the 2nd production C-5M Super Galaxy ultra-heavy air transport at Dobbins Air Reserve Base, Marietta, GA.

• Fuel cells usually don’t do well with standard military fuels like JP-8, because of the chemicals inside. Lockheed Martin is working to create a fuel cell that can handle JP-8.

• Note to soldiers: the metal detectors they give you for land mines aren’t foolproof. USMC Cpl. Matt Garst found that out the hard way – then walked away from the blast.

• India passes China as world’s top arms importer, accounting for 9% of arms transfers during 2006 to 2010, according to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute.

• US Navy personnel on the US aircraft carrier Ronald Reagan (CVN 76), which is aiding victims of the earthquake and tsunami in Japan, were exposed to a month’s worth of radiation in an hour, according to the New York Times.

• High fuel prices could increase US DoD’s fuel costs by $1.5 billion, according to Pentagon Comptroller Robert Hale.

• NATO defense ministers agree to alliance cyber defense policy.

• General Dynamics gets $40 million task order to provide IT help desk support to the Defense Intelligence Agency under its $6.6 billion SITE contract.

• Kaman gets $23.8 million contract modification to supply joint programmable fuzes for guided bombs that use JDAM or Paveway kits.

• Harris receives $11 million order to supply Falcon III RF-152-C tactical radios and RF-300M Trimline vehicle adapters [PDF] to the Australian Department of Defence.

• British PM David Cameron describes recent British military operations within Libya. Meanwhile, Canada has sent its JTF2 special forces unit, the civil war flares in Marsa Al Burayqah, and the rebels have Tobruk’s oil terminal working.

• Russia busts arms export record with $10 billion in 2010. That’s about double the 2005 totals.

• Conflict of interest at DARPA over awarding of contracts?

• Senate agrees to mid-March continuing resolution (CR); effects of year-long CR during wartime unknown, Deputy Defense Secretary William Lynn warns Congress.

• GAO faults DoD for dragging its feet in fulfilling urgent operational needs in the field, due to issues of request structure, funding, and technological overreach.

• Meanwhile, Lockheed Martin is trying to make emergency airborne surveillance programs easier to accomplish with its Dragon family of aircraft kits, ground stations, and services.

• Here’s a cool private sector job. If you can’t fly with someone like ATAC, how about Hawker Beechcraft’s T-6 Aerobatic Team? [PDF]. They’re in Australia now, where HBC is busy working with Raytheon and BAE [PDF] to promote the T-6C as Australia’s Project AIR 5428 choice, to replace the current PC-9A turboprop intermediate trainers.

• Eurocopter’s X3 compound helicopter program sharpens its focus to “cost-effective speed,” plans to introduce the technology on its Super Puma medium helicopter family by 2016. Its current main competitor is Sikorsky’s X2 platform, though growing attention could also help firms like Piasecki, with their X-49A “Speedhawk” H-60 retrofit.

• US Navy orders common display systems for surface ships, submarines, and aircraft from General Dynamics under a $26.9 million contract modification.

• Obama administration’s fiscal year 2012 budget [PDF] boosts defense spending by $22 billion over FY 2010 appropriations, to $671 billion, while projecting $78 billion in “savings” through 2016. [Update: 2013 request.]

• Russia’s armed forces rely on aging equipment, lack transport capability, and suffer from manpower shortages, according to a NATO report cited in a leaked US diplomatic cable.

• Which is true now, and even Russian analysts agree. But Moscow is increasing spending, and roughly doubled annual arms exports from 2005-2010. Meanwhile, Germany’s Rheinmetall is about to build an Army training center in the Nizhny Novgorod region.

• Ceradyne’s new Enhanced Combat Helmet may be twice the price, but it looks like a 70% plus increase in head protection over the current American ACH design, with a new ability to stop close rifle shots. The USA plans to buy 200,000 ECH helmets, beginning in the fall of 2011.

• Canada’s DND freezes benefits for deployed soldiers and next-of-kin, but isn’t moving to end double-dipping by senior officers. Not exactly leadership.

• You can find it in those deployed ranks, though. Kudos to Canadian Master Corporal Shawn Grove, who taught himself Pashto and became a big asset to the Afghan campaign, without any help from his military.

• UK soldiers get new lightweight ration packs for troops on patrol under a GPB 140 million contract with Purple Food Services.

• Northrop Grumman CEO Wes Bush backs easing of high-tech export controls.

• Israel’s IAI looks to work with Bombardier as well as Gulfstream, unveiling a maritime surveillance Dash-8 mockup at Aero India 2011, and considering Airborne Early Warning planes based on Bombardier’s Global Express jets.

• 2 Thai F-16s crash during Cobra Gold 2011. The pilots are safe, and the country’s F-16 upgrade program should be unaffected.

• General Dynamics snags $9.3 million task order to perform network systems integration for the Marine Corps Systems Command under the $9 billion NETCENTS contract vehicle.

• Recent WikiLeaks revelations re: Saudi Arabia have reignited the peak oil debate. Joe Lazarro says we may or may not have hit peak oil, but we can say goodbye to cheap oil.

• Defense budget cuts split HASC Republicans between hawks and Tea Partiers.

• With a bevy of batteries weighing soldiers down, MIT’s research into mini gas turbines in a silicon chip promises a possible way out.

• US Army’s Dugway Proving Ground, which stores and tests chemical and biological weapons, reopens after a lockdown because of a “serious concern within the test area.”

• Hard to find is one thing. But could it be possible to make a submarine completely invisible to sonar? Experiments by scientists at the University of Illinois indicate that a sonic cloak may be possible.

• Lockheed Martin rocks 4th quarter with an 18.9% jump in net earnings.

• URS gets up to $63 million to provide engineering, program management, analysis, and logistics support for the B-2 bomber program.

• CACI gets $238 million in national security intelligence support work.

• Eurofighter CEO sees 2011 as a pivotal year, in order to avoid the end of production in 2015. India’s M-MRCA competition, and hopes of a “Tranche 3B” from its consortium countries, are the key underpinnings.

• The Marines recently said they’re more focused on local police and governance than on technology in Afghanistan. They won’t be the only ones cheering the recent firings of many Afghan police officials.

• One of the USAF’s big technologies, meanwhile, is on shaky ground. The twin-pod Gorgon Stare payload for UAVs and aircraft is supposed to let troops cover square kilometers with surveillance, instead of looking through a soda straw. But the left-wing CDI reveals that a recent testing report gave it a terrible rating. The US Air Force has some disagreements with that assessment, but probably regrets their recent boasting to the Washington Post. So does Chuck Spinney, albeit for a different set of reasons.

• Meanwhile, ex-Army general Stan McChrystal talks about his aggressive pursuit of tech on the battlefield – and the human side that makes it worth anything.

• Former Northrop Grumman engineer Noshir Gowadia gets 32 years in prison for assisting China in developing a low-signature cruise missile exhaust system and providing classified information on the B-2 Spirit bomber.

• When Aviation Week is writing editorials called “Get Real on National Security,” change is definitely in the air.

• Portland, OR-based Vigor Industrial expects to complete its $130 million purchase [PDF] of Seattle, WA-based military and civilian shipbuilder Todd Shipyards on Jan. 28/11, after Todd allows “go shop” period to expire.

• RAND report [PDF] says there is no “direct benefit” to the US military’s use of alternative fuels for tactical operations. It recommends that the military stick to proven tech, and focus on efficiency rather than cutting edge commercialization.

• ABI Research: Military spending and Gallium Nitride adoption is fueling demand for RF power semiconductors used in radar and military communication and electronics equipment.

• Thermacore gets $3 million contract extension to continue development of active heat sink technologies used to cool military electronics systems, under DARPA’s Micro-technologies for Air-Cooled Exchangers (MACE) program.

• US Deputy Defense Secretary William Lynn meets with NATO counterparts about implementing cyber shield plan approved at the Lisbon Summit.

• Cpl. Katrina “Combat Barbie” Hodge, Miss England 2010 and bravery commendation recipient for her actions in Basra, Iraq, is set to deploy to Afghanistan.

• Lockheed Martin agrees to pay $2 million to settle a DoJ lawsuit accusing the company, as well as partners SAIC and AES, of conspiring with former government employees Stephen Adamec and Robert Knesel to ensure the 3 companies were awarded a $115M contract in 2004 to support the Naval Oceanographic MSRC (now the Navy DSRC).

• Iraqi Security Forces Order of Battle author DJ Elliott offers thoughts on Iraq’s military development, ability to defend itself, and 5 most pressing weaknesses against conventional invasion.

• The Philippines is eying a used US Coast Guard Hamilton Class high endurance cutter. The 378 foot Hamilton Class is being replaced by the Bertholf Class National Security Cutters, but the USCG remains overstretched with its current fleet.

• France’s DCNS is capitalizing on its nuclear submarine knowledge to offer a “FlexBlue” self-contained mini-reactor in the 50-250 MW range, to be installed underwater off the coast. It would be shipped out for maintenance, and use seawater for cooling. Areva, EDF and the CEA R&D organization are also involved.

• Another fire on Britain’s S120 HMS Ambush, the second-of-class Astute fast attack submarine. HMS Astute has certainly had its own share of problems as well. The fitting out and testing periods are when you’re supposed to find them, and this fire was as minor as a submarine fire can be… but at some point, the number and types of faults become worrying.

• The RAF’s 7th C-17 arrives at Brize Norton.

• Up to $102 million to SAIC for logistics support to the Army’s 1st Theater Sustainment Command.

• API Technologies completes acquisition of SenDec, a Fairport, NY-based defense electronics manufacturer, in a stock swap deal worth around $97 million.

• ManTech gets $57 million contract to supply engineering, technical and administrative support to the Naval Air Warfare Center Aircraft Division for US navy aircraft and systems.

• Textron to deliver the final 47-foot motor lifeboat (MLBs) to the Mexican Navy under a contract to build 6 craft based on 117 MLBs currently in use by the USCG.

• Russian Defense Minister Anatoly Serdyukov said that he wants to replace Russia’s iconic Kalashnikov assault rifles and Dragunov SVD sniper rifles, possibly with foreign made weapons. Unsurprisingly, controversy ensues. Media mistake alert: current Kalashnikovs in Russian service are not 7.62mm AK-47/AKMs. They’re 5.45mm AK-74s, which entered service in the 1990s.

• Did the Serbian shoot-down of an F-117 Nighthawk stealth fighter in 1999 contribute to Chinese development of its J-20 stealth fighter?

• Israeli firm Aeronautics DS is set to begin manufacturing parts of its Aerostar and Orbiter UAVs, and performing final assembly, in Baku, Azerbaijan. Azeri use of the UAVs will benefit both countries. Since the opening of the Baku-Ceyhan (Turkey) oil pipeline in 2006, Azerbaijan has become one of Israel’s biggest crude oil suppliers. At least, until Israel transitions to a natural gas economy...

• Boeing to slow C-17A heavy airlifter production (14 in 2010, 13 in 2011, 10/yr. after), and cut 1,100 workers – mostly at Long Beach, CA.

• Good news for BAE Systems Southeast Shipyards (formerly Atlantic Marine Florida LLC), as navy contracts for cruisers and destroyers, post-delivery work on Pakistan’s new frigate, and post-delivery work on Littoral Combat Ships has nearly doubled its work force to 1,100 in the past 6 months.

• German Defense Minister Karl-Theodor zu Guttenberg orders investigation into German armed forces following reports of mutiny aboard a naval training ship, an accidental shooting in Afghanistan, and army mail tampering claims.

• US contractors that provide maintenance work for military equipment are worried that US administration’s plan to bring outsourced jobs inside federal government will cost them billions of dollars.

• US Army aviation worries about long-term helicopter plans. That has been a serious question for some time now, but perhaps privately-funded efforts will help step into that gap. If the Army lets them.

• Hacker sells what is claimed to be administrative control to US military websites.

• US Army releases handbook advising troops on security for social media use.