Rapid Fire 2011-08-03: Strategic Defence and Security Review

* President Barack Obama announces his intent to promote Ashton B. Carter from Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition, Technology and Logistics to Deputy Secretary of Defense. * The House of Commons Defence Select Committee publishes its report on the UK’s Strategic Defence and Security Review (SDSR) [PDF]. The Committee rejects Prime Minister David Cameron’s view that the Armed Forces have a full spectrum of defense capabilities. Concerns are also raised that expenditure savings have overridden state security. * Japan’s Ministry of Defense (MoD) publishes Defense of Japan 2011. In the foreword [PDF] the Minister of Defense highlights China’s rapid military modernization and its increasing presence around Japanese waters. * South Korean prosecutors have indicted three retired senior Air Force officers for allegedly passing classified military information to Lockheed Martin. * Finmeccanica subsidiary DRS Technologies announces that its has been awarded a $514.3 million indefinite delivery, indefinite quantity (IDIQ) contract to supply the US Army with its Small Tactical Optical Rifle Mounted Micro Laser Range Finder (STORM-mLRF). * An Indian Air Force (IAF) pilot was killed when his MiG-21 fighter crashed in Rajasthan. This takes the number of accidents involving MiG-21s to 25 over the past three years and reinforces concerns that India is struggling to keep its aging Soviet fleet airworthy. * Talk about your bad run for Army Aviation. An […]