* The US Navy’s MZ-3A military research airship is about to get another year’s lease on life, as an Army test bed. With LEMV coming along, that’s probably a good idea.
* The GAO says US Army payroll is a mess – not the kind where you get to eat.
* Dassault Aviation released its 2011 results [PDF]. Net sales were down 21% to 3.3B euros (about $4.4B) because of markedly lower Falcon business jet deliveries vs. a record 2010. Defense orders grew 17.5% to 931 million euros. The consolidated backlog is down 7% to 8.75 billion euros.
* Rafael announced 2011 sales of $1.98B, up 7% from the previous year. Its backlog, 70% of which comes from exports, is down $103M to $3.46B.
* Canada has scaled back its plans for an Arctic naval facility at Nanisivik.
* There’s not much yet specific to defense in the Guardian’s highlights of the UK’s 2012 budget, save this: a faster Afghanistan withdrawal would save 2.4 billion pounds by 2015.
* European Union members are considering pooling air refueling and medical field hospital resources. In the EU’s unmistakable burospeak: “A Declaration of Intent for the Establishment of Multinational Modular Medical Units.”
* The Spacecraft Engineering Department (SED) at the US Naval Research Lab has successfully tested the robotic refueling of Unmanned Surface Vehicles (USV) at sea.
* DARPA’s Robotic Suspension System looks like it’s coming right out of the Fantastic Contraption game. See for yourself: