Rapid Fire: 2010-08-11

* “War on Waste” – DoD CIO and Business Transformation Agency, along with JFCOM, will be casualties of Defense Secretary Gates’ $100 billion effort to trim the defense budget; support contractors will be cut by 10% per year over 3 years. But will it really save money, while delivering the same readiness? * India’s military continues to find it difficult to spend its procurement budgets, thanks to endless delays from a deeply broken process. (Case in point: artillery modernization). Note that 10 crore is currently about $2.15 million. * Funding Iraq: US Congress should fully fund Pentagon’s $2 billion FY 2011 request for Iraqi security forces, says outgoing commander of US forces in Iraq; Senate Armed Services Committee chairman disagrees. * Stealth failure: Former Northrop Grumman engineer found guilty of helping China build a cruise missile by providing stealth exhaust nozzle technology. * US DSCA announces [PDF] Israel’s official request to buy up to $2 billion worth of unleaded gasoline, JP-8 aviation fuel, and diesel fuel. * Another Arjun? After a torturously long and expensive process to field the Arjun tank, India’s DRDO wants to start from scratch. Instead of making incremental improvements on Arjun now that the bugs are […]