* The House Appropriations Committee approves the FY12 Defense Appropriations legislation. The bill contains $530 billion in non-emergency funding, an increase of $17 billion over last year’s level, but $9 billion below President Obama’s request. The Committee also agreed to withhold 75% of the $1.1 billion-worth of aid for Pakistan, until the administration reports on how it would spend the money. It isn’t a budget, however, until Senate reconciliation happens.
* G2 Solutions publishes a 7-year Department of Defense (DoD) procurement and research, development, test and evaluation (RDT&E) Unmanned Aerial Systems spending analysis.
* One consequence of so many NATO states spending the majority of defense budgets on personnel costs is that there is little money left for equipment, argues Bruce Bartlett in The New York Times.
* NDIA reports that cash-laden U.S. defense firms and the expanded role of private equity in the defense and aerospace sectors could prompt a new round of acquisitions of small and medium size enterprises
* General Dynamics announces that it has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire for an undisclosed price Fortess Technologies, Inc., a provider of secure wireless networking equipment for the U.S. military.
* Defence Equipment and Support (DE&S) confirms that the online sale for the retired aircraft carrier HMS Ark Royal has been extended until July 6th.
* Uzbekistan’s Defense Minister says the country is interested in defense-industrial cooperation with Azerbaijan.
* Following last week’s speculation that China is developing another fifth generation fighter, an Alert 5 poll suggests that over 50% believe the pictures are fake.
