Rapid Fire 2011-10-18: NAVAIR Acquisition Guide | US Army Energy Conservation

Oct 18, 2011 09:20 UTC

• US Naval Air Systems Command (NAVAIR) published its latest acquisition guide [PDF].

• Katherine Hammack, the US Assistant Secretary of the Army (Installations, Energy, & Environment), presented “US Army Power & Energy” [PDF] last week during AUSA.

• MBDA announced that it is pitching its Taurus air-to-ground missiles in answer to a Request for Information from the Indian Air Force.

• According to the New York Times, the Obama administration considered using cyber warfare during the war in Libya, but balked because of legal concerns and to avoid setting a precedent.

• South Africa’s Department of Defense discloses the value of its assets but the country’s Auditor General could not audit that statement, reports DefenceWeb. This sounds familiar.

• South Korea’s Aerospace Research Institute (KARI) is reportedly working on a tilt-rotor UAV.

• If Scotland were to break up from the United Kingdom – an event that is actually under serious consideration – what would be its defense policy?

• US Rear Admiral Craig Faller, Commander of Carrier Strike Group (CSG) 3, muses over the value of a CSG in terms of power, flexibility and mobility.

• The Center for Strategic & International Studies (CSIS) released a briefing [PDF] on the state of Iran’s chemical,
  

biological, and nuclear capabilities. The Institute for Science and International Security (ISIS) also published several updates about Iran’s nuclear facilities and centrifuges.

• Winslow T. Wheeler from the Center for Defense Information (CDI) takes US SecDef Leon Panetta to task on the latter’s assertion that “the American military today is without question the finest fighting force that has ever existed.” Wheeler’s contention: “We got this smaller, older, less ready force not because of less money but because of more.” While some may object to Wheeler’s tone, he’s summoning accurate facts to support his rebuttal: the US Navy does have fewer ships than it used to, and USAF planes are indeed aging on average.

• Video below of a Q&A with Dmitri Trenin at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace on Russia where Putin is likely to again become President: