Rapid Fire 2011-07-09: CIRCM Program

* The House of Representatives passes a $649 billion defense spending bill for FY2012, trimming $9 billion from President Obama’s budget request. * Department of Defense officials tell a Pew Research Center conference that the military is prepared to use biofuels. However, usage is dependent upon a number of factors including price and sufficient demand to create a biofuel industry. * Following recent criticisms by the UK’s National Audit Office (NAO), Defence Secretary Liam Fox defends the decision to refit one Queen Elizabeth Class aircraft carrier with a catapult and arrestor gear. Fox said the move would provide the Royal Navy with 50 years of ‘the best utility we could have in terms of power projection’. * The US Army awards Daimler Trucks North America a contract potentially worth almost $45 million for an undisclosed number and type of vehicles. * Japan opens a military base in Djibouti that will be used to combat piracy off the coast of Somalia. The move was followed by the government’s extension of the Japanese Maritime Self Defense Force’s anti-piracy mission. * ITT gives Defense Tech a heads up on the product it is submitting for the US Army’s Common Infrared Countermeasure (CIRCM) Program.