Rapid Fire 2010-07-19: EADS Eyes Emerging Markets

* Superconductor step forward: USA’s Brookhaven National Laboratory adds insights into the “pseudogap” phase. * Quantum dots may lead to dark pulse lasers, with applications in atomic clocks and networking technologies. * European governments look to defense cuts to balance budgets. * EADS mulls expansion in India, Brazil, Saudi Arabia, and Qatar, where defense spending is expected to grow at healthy rates. * Israel is cutting its defense budget for first time in years. * AVI BioPharma snags US Army contract worth up to $291 million to develop antidotes for biological threats, such as the Ebola and Marburg viruses. * Space Tracking and Surveillance System (STSS) demonstration satellites, built by Northrop Grumman and Raytheon to track missiles as part of a BMD system, successfully tracked a Minuteman III ICBM.