Rapid Fire 2011-02-10: SSBN-X pre Milestone A

* Aero India 2011 exhibition takes flight. * The USA OKs its next-generation SSBN-X nuclear missile submarines for Milestone A studies, to accompany missile compartment contracts already underway. * Even as reports gather that China has tested submarine-launched ballistic missiles of its own. * How did Northrop Grumman do in the fourth quarter? Depends who you talk to: Reuters | Wall Street Journal. * Pentagon backs mergers and acquisitions among smaller defense suppliers, but not for the heavy hitters. * DoD is requesting $7 billion less in FY 2012 than was forecast last year, according to a Bloomberg report. * US Army wants more “Punisher” XM25 semi-automatic high-explosive airburst weapons for Afghanistan. * US SOCOM forces stretched to the limit in Afghanistan, commander warns. * Defense electronics contracts totaled in excess of a billion dollars in January 2011, according to Strategy Analytics. * Greenbelt, MD-based Gryphon Technologies is adding 60 jobs and office space in Bloomington, IN, to accommodate its $26.6 million logistics services contract with the Naval Surface Warfare Center, Crane Division. * Harris snags $9 million order to supply Falcon II 400-watt AN/PRC-150-C radios for the US Army’s Joint Biological Point Detection System [PDF] designed to identify biological […]