* Critics question the timing of the NY Times story on Afghanistan’s potential $1 trillion in mineral wealth – and the course of the war – but not the story’s facts. The Times’ James Risen defends his story, and says he’s been on it for some time now thanks to contacts in the geological survey teams.
* CSC gets SeaPort-E order worth up to $135 million to support Navy’s PEO Aircraft Carriers, which is responsible for managing the design, development, construction, modernization, and lifecycle of US Navy aircraft carriers.
* BAE signs a deal to use Iveco’s SUPERAV 8×8 amphibious wheeled APC as the basis for the US Marines’ upcoming MPC competition. That doesn’t look like good news for BAE’s own SEP; Patria Oyj & Lockheed announced an AMV MPC entry in 2007…
* India’s Samay Live reports tough conditions attached to use of Pakistan’s new F-16s…
* LOGIR guided 70mm rocket test goes well, moving the USN/ROK effort closer to joining a crowding field of offerings.
* SAIC snags follow-on contract worth up to $49 million to support video processing capability of USAF DCGS, a globally networked ISR system.
* Russia moves to keep up, with new President-S helicopter active protection system to defeat portable anti-aircraft missiles. Irony alert: most of the missiles likely to threaten Russian helicopters these days are Russian designs.
* Environmental Tectonics wins $38 million contract to supply 4 USAF research altitude chambers to study pilots’ reactions to high-altitude flight.
* Up to $16.6 million to IntelliScience to supply digital imagery analysis systems to Defense Threat Reduction Agency for WMD detection.
* Honeywell gets $4.6 million US Army contract to develop micro-grid technology to provide power in remote locations and improve efficiency of existing generators.