Rapid Fire Morning 2011-06-24: Tognum Engines

• Chairman of Joint Chiefs of Staff Mike Mullen and Defense Under Secretary for Policy Michelle Flournoy testified at a House Armed Services Committee hearing on President Obama’s Afghanistan troop reduction plan – C-Span video.

• The UK’s RUSI think tank and Cranfield University publish their joint paper [PDF] on reform of the Ministry of Defence (MoD). Proposed changes outlined in The Defence Reform Agenda include military reorganization away from single service orientation and organizational change to stimulate greater financial accountability.

• The Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry in India (ASSOCHAM) calls for the raising of permissible limit of foreign direct investment (FDI) in the defense sector from 26% to 49%. ASSOCHAM believes that increased FDI will stimulate technology transfers and develop the Indian defense sector’s capabilities.

• Reuters reports that Daimler and Rolls-Royce now have full control of the engine manufacturer Tognum AG. Over the past few weeks the Anglo-German partnership has increased its majority shareholder stake from 58% to 94% of the company.

• Speculation regarding China’s stealth fighter program is now accompanied by intrigue over its unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV). The Dew Line publishes a photograph of a UAV flying above a Chinese naval vessel on exercises near Okinawa which does not appear to resemble China’s ASN-209 or ASN-802 drones.

• Officials from the Malaysian, Indonesian and South Korean Ministries of Defense to discuss regional development of armored vehicle fleets at the 3rd Armoured Vehicles Asia conference in Singapore. The announcement comes after Malaysia’s recent decision to award the BAE Systems NSS joint venture a $557 million to supply its armed forces with 257 AV-8 8×8 wheeled armor vehicles.

• Secretary of State Hillary Clinton tells the Philippines’ Foreign Secretary that the United States is prepared to provide the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) with affordable military equipment to safeguard its territorial claims in the South China Sea.

• The Australian Strategic Policy Institute says the Defence Posture Review will move Australia on from WWII-era thinking regarding ‘secondary defense areas’ as energy resources off Western Australia and Northern Territory become security considerations. The review will also make it difficult for Australia to sit out a future US-China conflict.

• Danger Room reports on the US Senate Select Committee on Intelligence’s hearing on General David Petraeus becoming the next Director of the CIA. They suggest that Petraeus’ remarks are the closest a top intelligence official has come to saying that unmanned airstrikes are not the CIA’s only counterterrorist measure.