* Firms gearing up for American “T-X” competition to replace its supersonic T-38 Talon jet trainers.
* Israeli satellite service provider Gilat Satellite Networks is looking to expand into defense markets.
* 1st test flight for South Korea’s “Surion” utility helicopter.
* New ground control bases decided for USAF’s MQ-1 Predator and MQ-9 Reaper fleets. Operations currently run out of Creech AFB, near Las Vegas.
* Cold Turkey: The Turkish government turns a cold shoulder to Israel’s request to fly Israeli officers across Turkish airspace en route to Poland.
* Getting Along: China, Japan expand military confidence-building measures to ease tensions over recent Chinese military activities near Japanese territorial waters.
* No Blogging Zone: The Chinese government is banning military personnel from blogging or creating homepages.
* Weather Forecast: Textron Systems’ AAI Corp. snags USAF contract worth up to $47.5 million to provide logistics support for the AN/TMQ-53 Tactical Meteorological Observing System, which provides weather data for landing strips.
* High Speed: ViaSat upgrades its US airborne Ku-band ISR network to 1 Mbps for US special ops forces C-130s.
