Rapid Fire 2010-03-25: UK Space Agency

* Water desalination on a chip could be a game-changer for post-disaster scenarios, expeditionary militaries. * Britain consolidating work of 6 government departments, 2 research councils, a technology committee and the Met Office into one new UK Space Agency. * US Defense Secretary orders internal review of the Pentagon’s intelligence operations policy in response to allegations that private contractors conducted unauthorized “intelligence operations” in Afghanistan. Wall Street Journal | Washington Post | Associated Press * DoD, NIST document puts forward common information security guidelines for contractors and federal government. * Society of Manufacturing Engineers (SME) pushes WESTEC Advanced Productivity Exposition to biennial, adds new AeroDef Manufacturing Exposition in alternate years. * Hitchin’ a Ride: DARPA scraps plans for Rapid Eye UAV that would be deployed by an ICBM. * IARPA (no, that’s not a typo) asks industry’s help in assessing virtual reality intelligence applications. * France completes urgent operational order for Sperwer NG/ SDTI UAVs. * Turkish T-129 attack helicopter prototype crashes in Italy. * Rented German Heron UAV has a fender bender at Mazar-e-Sharif Air Base, Afghanistan. * It’s just like the real thing, except for the birds: UK orders virtual reality parachute trainers. * Curtiss-Wright gets $10.5 million […]