• DARPA’s Prophecy project looks to stay a step ahead of virus evolution, something with strong public health relevance as well as defensive military uses. That’s good, because the US State Department’s new arms control compliance report shows that there is a lot we do not know about the world’s germ warfare programs.

• Research and Markets: The South African defense industry is expected to continue its consolidation trend, with fewer firms competing for more international business. No surprise, given its weak domestic market.

• F-35 flight tests suspended, due to issues with fuel-system software on all variants and with a door hinge on the Marines’ F-35B.

• At least one person on Cryptome thinks the Stuxnet worm is too sloppy to be Israeli malware, and that the “myrtus” aspect of it has a non-biblical explanation. Meanwhile, Iran blusters – and may be about to implement the accompanying social hack.

• Collateral Economy: US military’s 17 facilities in Maryland generate $36 billion annually in economic activity, according to a University of Baltimore report [PDF].

• Cleveland Rocks: Defense News reports that Cleveland Ship has bid for Northrop Grumman’s shipbuilding unit, which Bloomberg estimates to be worth up to $4.6 billion.

• Canada’s AirBoss-Defense gets $22 million worth of orders to supply CBRN protective boots and gloves to the US military.

• Up to $8 million to Kratos for IT and cybersecurity support for the US Navy’s Pacific region network.

• Big Enough Umbrella: US Secretary of State Clinton and NATO Secretary General Rasmussen call for cooperation between the Western alliance and Russia on a missile defense shield.

• ‘Intersleek’ Paint Job: BAE Systems completes GBP 17.5 million overhaul of the Type 42 Sheffield class destroyer HMS Edinburgh; the ship has been fitted with a new underwater spoiler and a coat of new “intersleek” paint that will cut fuel consumption by up to 15%.

• Slimey Solution: US DoD awards a $29.5 million contract to Scripps Institution of Oceanography and Trius Therapeutics to develop antibiotics from bacteria on the ocean floor for defense against biological weapon agents.

• L-3 acquires 3Di Technologies, a provider of secure satellite communications for forward-deployed US special ops forces and in-theater personnel.

• US DoD explores use of mobile solar and wind generators to produce energy in combat zones.

• Reviewing the Review: A UK House of Commons Defence Committee report criticizes the UK government for haste and a lack of consultation with the defense industry in its Strategic Defence and Security Review; UK MoD responds. And RUSI’s Michal Clarke offers his thoughts.

• New Rules: Industry reps whose companies provide contracted services to the US government plan to meet with the Pentagon’s acquisition chief, Ashton Carter, on Thursday to discuss concerns about the DoD’s new procurement guidance affecting $200 billion per year in defense programs.

• Small Canadian defense firms looking for inroads into India.

• Defense Aerospace asks: “Will Ratings Agencies Disarm Europe?” More like finish the job.

• NATO’s NAMSA deploys a Lockheed Martin Savi RFID hub to help manage logistics among NATO and coalition forces.

• Reset or Return: US, Russian defense chiefs meet to “reset” relationship, although the agenda – discussing issues of common interest and spheres of influence – sounds a lot like US-Soviet detente.

• Help, Please: To implement a US executive order, DARPA is asking for industry help in developing technologies to speed the process of declassifying US documents.

• Waste Not, Want Not: GTEC gets $37 million US Army contract to provide system to re-use shower water; GTEC also agrees to acquire cybersecurity firm Zytel for $26.8 million in cash.

• Lockheed Martin extends its on-time streak to 86 F-22A Raptors. So production is likely to end soon, on time.

• Northern Exposure: The chief of South Korea’s presidential committee on defense advancement says that the country should work to secure defensive weapon systems against North Korea’s WMD.

• China’s FY 2010 defense spending increased 7.5% to $78 billion, says Taiwan defense report.

• Up and Down: Wells Fargo upgrades outlook for Raytheon’s shares due to significant international sales by the company, while the investment bank downgrades the outlook for Lockheed Martin’s shares because of tighter DoD budgets.

• The Pentagon is cutting $1.5 billion from the WMD defense budget over the next 5 years; over $1 billion is being moved to fund development of vaccines to combat pandemics, according to a DoD memo obtained by Global Security Newswire.

• India may add another 59 Mi-17 helicopters to its $1.2 billion, 80 helicopter deal from 2008.

• UK commissions its new first-of-class nuclear-powered fast attack submarine as HMS Astute, after many delays and technical issues.

• The US Navy’s last Wasp Class LHD, Makin Island, looks like it will face more delays.

• OSI Systems in Hawthorne, CA gets contract worth up to $12 million to provide research support to the US Domestic Nuclear Detection Office.

• USAF is moving ahead with its program to privatize its military housing, which shifts the financial responsibility of renovation, construction, operation, and maintenance of the housing to the private sector. Latest contract was let to Forest City Enterprises for housing at Shaw AFB and Charleston AFB in South Carolina, Arnold AFB in Tennessee, and Keesler AFB in Mississippi.

• Flying Cars?: Yes, it’s true. DARPA is developing a Transformer military transport vehicle that would also be able to take off and fly like an aircraft to avoid roadside bombs; Lockheed Martin and AAI have been selected to develop it, according Popular Mechanics magazine.

Ebola patient

Significant progress at AVI Biopharma? (Aug 22/10)

The Defense Threat Reduction Agency at Fort Belvoir, VA is awarding contracts to find new anti-viral compounds that are effective against hemorrhagic fever viruses, a class that includes Ebola and other diseases.

Drug development is a long and expensive process ($100 million is often mentioned as the table stakes to get a drug through approvals), and promising therapies do not all make it through the research and testing stages. Even so, the research is interesting:

• AVI BioPharma’s AntiSense Approach [updated]
• Alnylam Pharmaceuticals & Tekmira’s RNAi Approach
• Functional Genetics’ TSG101 Approach
• Peregrine Pharmaceuticals’ Bavituximab
• Contracts & Key Events [updated]
  Continue Reading… »

• USAF 59th Medical Wing Clinical Research division at Lackland AFB, TX are studying vascular injuries and their effects on limbs, based on field experience in Iraq and Afghanistan where these injuries are 75% more common than previous wars. Their subject model suggests that conventional wisdom re: 6 hours to re-establish blood flow to an injured leg may be wrong – anything beyond an hour may be causing problems.

• WikiLeaks identified cooperating Afghans, and will get people killed. These days, there’s also LubyanskaPravda, a series of “top secret” documents said to be from Russia’s FSB (KGB successor), covering operations it has run in former Soviet Republics.

• Biden as Belichick: The US should appoint a “head coach” – such as the vice president – to oversee the government’s efforts to combat weapons of mass destruction, the head of the WMD Commission set up to study the issue tells a US Senate panel.

• The King and I: Military leaders loyal to the Thai King are being placed in top positions in the Thai military as the government moves to counter the “red shirt” movement.

• Boeing and the Argon Buy: Boeing has completed its purchase of Argon ST, a Fairfax, VA-based supplier of military C4ISR systems, for $34.50 per share, or $775 million in cash.

• EXPRESS Service: CSC snags task order worth up to $104 million to provide technology integration and engineering support to the US Army Aviation and Missile Research Development and Engineering Center under the $7.7 billion EXPRESS contract vehicle.

• US Lobbying firms upset that late filers under the Lobbying Disclosure Act will now be named publicly. Life is tough. Bring a helmet.

• Boeing announces receipt of the first new AN/APG-82v1 AESA radar, which will be retrofitted to American F-15s.

• 10th Mountain Division becomes the 6th US Army unit to field the new CH-47F Chinook.

• ESCO Technologies gets 5-year contract worth up to $35 million to supply anti-icing valves for the T700 engine used in US Army’s UH-60 Black Hawk helicopters.

• Superconductor step forward: USA’s Brookhaven National Laboratory adds insights into the “pseudogap” phase.

• Quantum dots may lead to dark pulse lasers, with applications in atomic clocks and networking technologies.

• European governments look to defense cuts to balance budgets.

• EADS mulls expansion in India, Brazil, Saudi Arabia, and Qatar, where defense spending is expected to grow at healthy rates.

• Israel is cutting its defense budget for first time in years.

• AVI BioPharma snags US Army contract worth up to $291 million to develop antidotes for biological threats, such as the Ebola and Marburg viruses.

• Space Tracking and Surveillance System (STSS) demonstration satellites, built by Northrop Grumman and Raytheon to track missiles as part of a BMD system, successfully tracked a Minuteman III ICBM.

• CSBA Paper looks at potential US responses to China’s sea-denial doctrines: “Why AirSea Battle?” [PDF]. Defense Tech moves to strike up a conversation.

• Indian Air Force signs EUR 560 million contract for 12 AW101 VIP helicopters.

• Are trans-Atlantic defense partnerships viable? Wall Street Journal weighs in.

• So do European governments and firms, as ripples continue to spread from the KC-X tanker bid pullout by Round 1 winners EADS/Northrop Grumman.

• US and South Korea exercises prelude to that country taking over wartime operational control of its forces in 2012. Defense against WMD a focus. DoD article | CCTV.com report | AFP | Korea Herald | JoongAng Daily

• Navistar expects orders for US military trucks to raise profits in 2010.

• L-3’s STRATIS division wins $230.9 million contract recompete to provide intelligence support services to US and multinational forces in Iraq; division also snags $24.8 million US Special Ops imagery contract.

• Sikorsky’s H-92/CH-148 Cyclone naval helicopter prototype arrives in Canada for trials.

• Northrop demonstrates LITENING surveillance and targeting pod on a Super Hornet; Raytheon’s ATFLIR had been the only qualified option.

• South Africa: “Navy ready to defend World Cup.” We still don’t think that will be enough to stop the Brazilians.

“Go Ahead, Make My Day”

The US Army Research, Development and Engineering Command (RDECOM) awarded 10 indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contracts for CBRNE (chemical, biological, radiological, nuclear, and explosive) support services at Edgewood Chemical Biological Center at Aberdeen Proving Ground, MD.

ECBC is the USA’s principal research and development center for non-medical chemical and biological defense. The center develops technology in the areas of CBRNE detection, protection, and decontamination, and provides support over the entire lifecycle – from basic research through technology development, engineering design, equipment evaluation, product support, sustainment, field operations and disposal.

The 10 ID/IQ contracts have a 5-year period of performance and a total value of $485 million for all awardees. Work will be performed at ECBC facilities on Aberdeen Proving Ground, MD, at contractor offices, and at other customer sites as required.

The winners of the 10 contracts are:

PolyMedix of Radnor, PA has now received 3 biodefense-related contracts from the US government, including a a $1.6 million, 1-year contract from the US Defense Threat Reduction Agency (DTRA) to develop new “defensin-mimetic antibiotic compounds.” The primary goal of that contract is to devise more effective rapid-response countermeasures against anthrax, plague, and tularemia. Other work may have benefits against pan-Staphylococcal infections, and pneumonia.

How does their proposed approach work, and what makes it novel?

• BAAC to the Future?
• Contracts and Key Events [updated]
• Additional Readings
  Continue Reading… »