* Beat the Street: Lockheed Martin, L-3 Communications surprise Wall Street by posting stronger than expected second quarter revenues and profits. Lockheed Martin release | L-3 release [PDF]
* Show Me the Money?: US DoD is unable to account for 95% of the $9.1 billion in Iraqi oil money that the US was going to use for rebuilding Iraq’s infrastructure, a report by the US Special Investigator for Iraq Reconstruction concludes.
* Deja Vu: During the first official French visit to Vietnam since the 1954 Battle of Dien Bien Phu, the French defense minister says his country is helping its old colony modernize its military equipment through the sale of radar, helicopters and transport aircraft.
* India’s P-8i Sea Control Aircraft completes final design review with Boeing, freezing design.
* Tiger, Tiger, Tiger: An advisory panel to the Japanese prime minister recommends the island nation take a more assertive stance in its defense posture, including preparing for “contingencies” on the Korean Peninsula and Taiwan Straits and small-scale invasions.
* Case for Competition: Lexington Institute’s Thompson makes the case for keeping competition in a consolidating US defense industry.
* Armageddon: Proposed US legislation would create a US Commission on Planetary Defense to track and defend against Earth-bound asteroids … Is Bruce Willis still available? Or better yet, Liv Tyler?