US Navy, Army, NASA Ramp up Additive Manufacturing Investigations

by Editorial Staff | Jun 5, 2014 | Britain/U.K., Daily Rapid Fire, Europe - Other, New Systems Tech, R&D - Contracted, Science - Basic Research, Submarines, Think Tanks, USA

* The US Navy’s Naval Air Systems Command (NAVAIR) will hold an industry day on additive manufacturing (AM) on July 24 in Solomons, MD. They don’t have a program of record for 3D printing just yet, but are interested in R&D demonstrations to develop a...

US Wants Increased NATO Spending, Makes Its Case By Threatening French Bank with $10B Fine

by Editorial Staff | Jun 4, 2014 | Alliances, Daily Rapid Fire, France, Issues - International, Issues - Political, L3 Communications, Legal, Northrop-Grumman, Russia, Scandals & Investigations, USA

* Eliot Engel [D-NY], Ranking Member of the US House Committee on Foreign Affairs, and 2 other congressmen wrote last week to NATO’s Secretary General, urging the alliance to buy France’s 2 Vladivostok (Mistral) Class LHD ships as a pooled asset, instead...

To Soothe Europe, US Administration Conveniently Remembers It Should Submit OCO Budget

by Editorial Staff | Jun 3, 2014 | Asia - Other, Budgets, China, Daily Rapid Fire, DARPA, Europe - Other, Finmeccanica, India, Israel, IT - Cyber-Security, Russia, Scandals & Investigations, Submarines, Turkey, UAVs, USA

* During a trip to Poland President Obama announced he’d seek congressional backing for a “European Reassurance Initiative” worth up to $1B within the FY15 Overseas Contingency Operations (OCO) request, which his Administration has yet to submit...

Events in Ukraine Make China Feel Cocky

by Editorial Staff | Jun 2, 2014 | China, Daily Rapid Fire, Germany, Iraq, Israel, Issues - International, IT - Cyber-Security, Middle East - Other, USA

* Maj. Gen Zhu Chenghu, from China’s National Defense University, while talking about the US power projection abilities, doubled down on the sort of brazen declarations that are increasingly fashionable among Chinese officials: “we can see from the...

Shinseki Yields to Pressure to Resign from Veteran Affairs

by Editorial Staff | May 30, 2014 | Asia - Central, Britain/U.K., China, Daily Rapid Fire, Europe - Other, India, Japan, Medical, Russia, Scandals & Investigations, South Korea, USA

* Eric Shinseki resigned this morning as Veteran Affairs secretary. With tepid support from the White House after yesterday’s interim report from the VA’s Inspector General and bipartisan calls for his resignation, there was little else he could do. He...