Rapid Fire 2010-09-02: Shared Euro Carriers?

* Can We Share? The Times of London is reporting that the UK and France are discussing an agreement to share aircraft carriers because of severe defense budget constraints in both countries, although the Wall Street Journal says the two sides are only talking about coordinating carrier retrofits so that one carrier is always available from the European theater.

* Chinese Surprise: Was a recent Chinese space maneuver using 2 satellites, the SJ-12 and SJ-06F, in preparation for a space exploration program or a space warfare program? Wired.com examines the question.

* Cool, Clear Water: Aqua-Chem gets DLA contract worth up to $386 million to supply water purification systems that provide fresh drinking water for US soldiers in remote locations.

* Up to $219 million to Northrop Grumman to provide personnel to operate the C-RAM anti-mortar defense systems at forward operating bases in Afghanistan.

* CSC snags subcontract worth up to $50 million to provide analysis support for threat detection of attacks on DoD’s networks.