Rapid Fire 2011-10-04: Valiant Jetty on Watch List | JSF Lands on LHD

• The UK Ministry of Defence’s Major Projects Review Board (MPRB) got to work back in June and the first results are in: The Valiant Jetty project is officially considered to be underperforming and has been put on the “Projects of Concern” list.

• The Center for Strategic & International Studies (CSIS) released a report on why and how to conduct a strategic defense review [PDF].

• It’s complicated. The Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) published a study [PDF] on new tensions in the partnership between China and Russia. Chinese arms imports from Russia peaked in 2005 and have strongly declined since then.

• The RAND Corporation researched C-130 maintenance costs and came to the conclusion that “The [US] Air Force can maintain its C-130 fleet using significantly fewer resources or can increase operational unit maintenance capabilities at a cost comparable to that of the current system by reallocating maintenance resources from unit backshops to a centralized network.”

• Exit interview. As he’s stepping down from his position as US Deputy Secretary of Defense, William Lynn III chimed in on cybersecurity (Federal News Radio), budget cuts (AP), force size (Defense News).

• It turns out the $350B in mandated defense cuts in the Budget Control Act in case the Supercommittee fails to reach an agreement are subject to interpretation.

• Counter-terrorism campaign reaching critical mass thanks to the rise of the drones?

• The US Army expects to have completed an ongoing enterprise email migration by March 2012. Maybe this will help lower the DOD’s humongous printing budget?

• Video of the 1st landing of a F35B on USS WASP (LHD 1) embedded below: