* Finmeccanica declared [PDF] a EUR 2.3 billion loss for 2011 (slightly more than $3B) on EUR 17.3B of revenue (-7% vs. 2010) because of high nonrecurring charges. Sales declined 22% to EUR 17.4B. Total backlog dropped 5% to 46 billion euros but from the company’s own admission it is “marked by a number of uncertain orders.”
* Turkey’s SSM procurement agency has unveiled their new 5-year strategic plan, with timetables for key acquisitions like the T129 ATAK helicopter and Altay tank.
* The Pentagon is on board with more support for Israel’s Iron Dome rocket defense systems. RAFAEL is partnered with Raytheon to market Iron Dome in the USA, and several NATO allies are interested in system.
* The US Army thinks it can make solar cells more efficient using quantum dots.
* “North Korea employs sophisticated computer hackers trained to launch cyber infiltration and cyber attacks” according to US Army General James Thurman, the commander of US Forces Korea. Considering this backwards country cannot even properly feed itself, let alone keep the lights on at night, we are a little skeptical that it can develop any sort of homegrown cyber capability “sophisticated” enough to worry the US and South Korea. Is the general implying foreign assistance? HASC hearing today at 10am.
* Seth Jones of the RAND Corporation testified about the future of irregular warfare [PDF] in yesterday’s HASC hearing. According to his estimate the US is outspending the Taliban in Afghanistan at a ratio of 500 to 1, yet their “ability to utilize limited resources and sustain a prolonged insurgency highlight some of America’s irregular warfare challenges.”
* The French Ministry of Defense’s latest EcoDef briefing [PDF, in French] compares French and German spending and staffing. Germany – a country with 25% more inhabitants and a 40% larger GDP at purchasing power parity – is spending 20% less than France on defense. Out of that lower spending the Germans allocate 19% to equipment vs. France’s 30%. Germany’s inter-service staff and spending are significantly higher, with 82,000 people on support functions such as logistics and communications. Last month’s EcoDef made the same benchmarking for France vs. the UK.
* Boston Dynamics’ 11-lb (5 kg) Sand Flea robot is quite a jumper in the video below: