* Center for Naval Analysis: US Navy’s decline reaching a tipping point?
* Chinese hackers gain access to classified documents in India’s Defense Ministry, Canadian think tank finds. Report | New York Times | Bloomberg | India Express
* Feeling Irregular?: USAF needs to beef up its irregular warfare capabilities in Iraq and Afghanistan, including dedicated COIN aircraft, says RAND report [PDF].
* Taking Back the Infantry Half-Kilometer, flip side: Why Taliban marksmanship sucks – and how they sometimes make it work for them anyway.
* A UK conference report, “Winning Hearts and Minds in Afghanistan: Assessing the Effectiveness of Development Aid in COIN [PDF],” says the current counter-insurgency approach may be doing more harm than good.
* The Taliban have a COIN doctrine, too. Or at least, rules for procuring suicide bombers.
* USA sending GunPACS Sniper detectors to Afghanistan, ASAP
* Meanwhile, David Axe reports from the ground in the Chowkay Valley. And Michael Yon discusses the COIN uses of a “designated comedian.”
* Culture Club: UK military specialists advise commanders on Afghan culture and language.
* USAF F-15s begin to get new nosecones, to go with their new radars
* Argon snags $11 million contract for Phase 2B of DARPA’s Robust Surface Navigation program to solve problems of GPS-signal jamming or blockage by building and foliage.
* Obama administration released April 6 its Nuclear Posture Review, which significantly limits the threatened use of nuclear weapons and renounces development of any new nuclear weapons. Report [PDF] | White House Statement | New York Times | Washington Post
* Next system test phase begins for USMC’s G/ATOR radars.