* The British National Audit Office’s 2011 Major Projects report says that short-term cuts spurred by its Strategic Defence and Security Review (SDSR) has added GBP 500 million (about $785M) to its 15 largest defense projects. The UK MoD responds.
* Britain’s first-of-class fast-attack submarine, HMS Astute, fires UGM-109 Tomahawk cruise missiles for the first time. Unlike the US Navy, Britain’s Tomahawks are only based on attack submarines.
* Rumors of a British Harrier jump-jet fleet sale to the US Marines get stronger.
* The US House Armed Services Committee had a hearing yesterday on USMC acquisition and modernization (ACV, AAV, JLTV). Video at the bottom of this entry.
* The US Air Force updated its AFDD 1 doctrine document [PDF] with the addition of a whole new chapter on airpower. Some might find the USAF’s definition of airpower as “control and exploitation of air, space, and cyberspace” (emphasis ours) as familiar overreaching.
* After spending lobbying & design dollars, Smith & Wesson decided that its M&P4 won’t be competing in the US Army’s Individual Carbine competition.
* One of Pakistan’s JF-17 fighters crashed; the pilot was killed when his parachute failed to open.
* A report from the French Assemblée Nationale concludes [in French] that the Franco-German Brigade could be the nucleus for a EU military, but found that its financing could be perfected, not to speak of its cumbersome deployment procedures. German Jägerbataillon 291 is stationed in French city Illkirch-Graffenstaden since last year.