Rapid Fire: 2010-04-07 – Afghan Focus

• Center for Naval Analysis: US Navy’s decline reaching a tipping point?

• Chinese hackers gain access to classified documents in India’s Defense Ministry, Canadian think tank finds. Report | New York Times | Bloomberg | India Express

• Feeling Irregular?: USAF needs to beef up its irregular warfare capabilities in Iraq and Afghanistan, including dedicated COIN aircraft, says RAND report [PDF].

• Taking Back the Infantry Half-Kilometer, flip side: Why Taliban marksmanship sucks – and how they sometimes make it work for them anyway.

• A UK conference report, “Winning Hearts and Minds in Afghanistan: Assessing the Effectiveness of Development Aid in COIN [PDF],” says the current counter-insurgency approach may be doing more harm than good.

• The Taliban have a COIN doctrine, too. Or at least, rules for procuring suicide bombers.

• USA sending GunPACS Sniper detectors to Afghanistan, ASAP

• Meanwhile, David Axe reports from the ground in the Chowkay Valley. And Michael Yon discusses the COIN uses of a “designated comedian.”

• Culture Club: UK military specialists advise commanders on Afghan culture and language.

• USAF F-15s begin to get new nosecones, to go with their new radars

• Argon snags $11 million contract for Phase 2B of DARPA’s Robust Surface Navigation program to solve problems of GPS-signal jamming or blockage by building and foliage.

• Obama administration released April 6 its Nuclear Posture Review, which significantly limits the threatened use of nuclear weapons and renounces development of any new nuclear weapons. Report [PDF] | White House Statement | New York Times | Washington Post

• Next system test phase begins for USMC’s G/ATOR radars.

Up to $124.8M to Air BP for Aviation Turbine Fuel

Air BP tanker
(click to view larger)

Air BP in Warrenville, IL won a maximum $124.8 million fixed-price with economic price adjustment, indefinite-delivery/ indefinite-quantity contract for aviation turbine fuel.

Aviation turbine fuel is used for powering jet and turbo-prop engined aircraft. There are currently two main grades of turbine fuel in use in civil commercial aviation: Jet A-1 and Jet A, both are kerosene type fuels. There is another grade of jet fuel, Jet B, which is a wide cut kerosene (a blend of gasoline and kerosene).

The military equivalent of Jet A-1 and Jet A fuel is JP-8, which also includes corrosion inhibitors and anti-icing additives. The military equivalent of Jet B is JP-4, with the same additions as JP-8…

ATLAS Shrugged: US Army Orders All-Terrain Telescopic Forklifts

ATLAS II

$85.7 million order for 492 ATLAS rough terrain forklifts. (April 6/10)

If you are looking for a forklift that can lift 10,000 pounds 17 feet in the air and travel at speeds up to 23 mph, then the All Terrain Lifter Army System (ATLAS) rough terrain forklifts might be just what you are looking for.

The ATLAS forklift can reach into trucks or shipping containers, lift loads over obstacles, and pick up loads from both above and below grade.

Manufactured by Oshkosh unit JLG Industries, the ATLAS comes in 2 varieties: the plain old ATLAS and the souped up ATLAS II, which includes cool multifunction attachments, high ground clearance, and lower emissions.

Once the counterweight is detached, ATLAS is good to go on a C-130, C-141, C-5A or C-17 transport aircraft…