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RU-38 Twin Condor
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DID Recon posts will be used on occasion in order to cover a slew of news via a rapid-fire set of bullet points. Since folks have asked, we use the picture of Sikorsky-Schweizer’s RU-38 dedicated reconaissance aircraft (with its unique silencing features) solely as a thematic element.

• Iran preparing more centrifuges for uranium enrichment, prepares to fire ballistic missiles in war games.

• NATO Armament Directors: Ballistic missile defense & Ground Surveillance progress. Note that “ground surveillance” = the AGS Program.

• US Intelligence community’s “IntelligenceWiki”

• Washington Post front line coverage: combat engineers vs. IED land mines. Don’t miss “Jedi Master McGorvin.”

• Mine-resistant vehicles getting marketing, deployment push. See also the “additional readings” section in DID’s Cougar coverage for a fuller roster, including new vehicles from BAE, Force Protection, and Protected Vehicles, Inc.

• Raytheon uses gaming technology to create “universal cockpit” for UAV operators. See Raytheon site for more.

• On the ground, iRobot now offers equipment to control multiple robots.

• Insurance firms must pay back $70 million to 70,000 US service members.

• CLAWS AMRAAM-based air defense finishes 14 month Limited Technical Inspection in just 12 months, exceeds performance expectations.

• USA’s military absentee ballots: a privacy risk?

• Joint Cargo Aircraft light transport contenders (C-27J Spartan, C-295M) heading into flyoffs.

• Boeing lobbying for 12 more C-17s in 2008.

• The next thing: Boeing Phantom Works prepares to fly a scale model version of their X-48B blended wing-body.