Rapid Fire: 2010-08-31

• French defense industry needs to be rationalized, which includes reducing government funding for defense R&D and encouraging aerospace supplier Safran and defense electronics firm Thales to swap assets, says French defense minister.

• President Obama pledges renewed effort to reform the US export control regime for defense and high-tech goods, including consolidating the Commerce Department’s Commerce Control List and the State Department’s U.S. Munitions List.

• USAF awards a 5-year client computing/server (CCS) blanket purchase agreement (FA8771-10-A-0601) worth up to $800 million to HP to provide business desktops and notebook computers, as well as servers and storage.

• Taiwan to cut 37.5% from funding of classified programs under its proposed FY 2011 budget.

• Do budget cuts herald doom for Britain’s fabled Gurkha Regiment and Black Watch?

• Singapore is sending a UAV task group to Afghanistan. Its Joint UAV Command stood up in 2007.

• New AGM-114R Hellfire tests its multi-mode warhead on a tank, following a recent conversion contract.

• The Center for Public Integrity details allegations of abuse regarding subcontractors in Iraq and Afghanistan.

• Northrop Grumman snags 5-year US Navy contract worth up to $39 million to provide security systems for USMC and other DoD facilities worldwide.