* The US Department of Defense now expects to spend $26B more in procurement and research/development by the end of the current fiscal year (Sept. 30) than outlined in recent budget documents. Up until April their contracting was significantly below last year though things picked up in June. The final 2 months of the fiscal year traditionally see an uptick in federal spending. DoD is now even more likely to spend everything they’ve got in light of Senate appropriators going after unspent funds from prior years.
Q2 Earnings
* Lockheed Martin’s Q2 2014 sales decreased by 1% to $11.3B. Aeronautics posted a nice 13% growth rate thanks to the F-35, Missile Systems sales were flat, but the other divisions lost ground from a year ago.
* United Technologies reported Q2 2014 revenue up 7% to $17.2B thanks to solid growth at UTC Aerospace Systems and Sikorsky. New order growth on the other hand slowed down.
* Rockwell Collins’ Q3 FY14 sales grew by 12% to $1.26B thanks to the addition of ARINC to their topline. Government sales on the other hand declined by 6% to $535M.
Middle East
* Given the increase in ISIS attacks in and around Baghdad, the Institute for the Study of War expects the insurgents to mount a larger offensive within days. With the central government under such direct pressure, the Kurds have been taking control of oil fields with increasing de facto autonomy.
Asia
* India’s Defence Acquisition Council cleared a set of acquisitions worth Rs 21,000 crore (INR 210 billion / $3.493 billion). DID covers the big light transport buy today; DAC also includes 32 HAL Dhruv helicopters for the Navy and Coast Guard (INR 70 billion), 5 new supply vessels (INR 90 billion), 5 OPV ships (INR 20 billion), 5 fast patrol boats (INR 3.6 billion), and Search & Rescue equipment (INR 9 billion).
Feeling Safer Already
* Computer forensic analyst Jonathan Zdziarski released a presentation [PDF] on July 18 that listed potential back doors and attack points because of undocumented services running on iOS mobile devices that he thought had no use for end users, developers or support staff. Apple subsequently posted a short explanation about what they call “diagnostic capabilities”, but Zdziarski is not convinced.
So You Thought LCS Was Threatened
* Today’s video is a big wet kiss from the US Navy to the littoral combat ship:
