In February 2012 the Inspector General (IG) at the US Department of Defense released a report [PDF] finding that DOD had awarded hundreds of millions of dollars in Service-Disabled Veteran-Owned Small Business (SDVOSB) program funds to potentially ineligible...
* EADS announced they grew yearly revenue by 7.4% to 49.1 billion euros in 2011 (about $65B). Growth was driven by Airbus Commercial (their best year ever) and Eurocopter (whose revenue was 47% military). The Airbus Military business lost 6.7% from 2010 to 2.5 billion...
* The US Air Force made its FY13 force structure announcement [PDF] to reflect its strategic guidance [PDF] in how its manpower is allocated. Its reserve is to change about 3,000 jobs in FY13. * An F-35A Lightning II made - in the words of Team Eglin Public Affairs -...
* The US Army intends to perform a Service Life Extension Program (SLEP) and On-Condition Cyclic Maintenance (OCCM) on its fleet of 34 Landing Craft Utility 2000 (LCU 2000) vessels. They are in service since 1990 and were originally planned for a 25-year service life,...
* China is officially announcing that its 2012 budget is increasing by 11.2% to about $106B. It is broadly agreed that this significantly understates total military spending. After about 25 years of double-digit growth China is now clearly the second biggest defense...
Latest updates: Civil war ends; Hydrocarbon output back up; Post-Gadhaffi, France to refurbish Mirage F1s. SU-35 flight, 2008(click to view full) After a long hiatus in major arms purchases, and an equally long fall from its status as an ultra-modern Soviet arms...
* Airbus Military got a firm order from Kazakhstan for 2 C295 transport aircraft with a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) for 6 more. Four years ago EADS made titanium sourcing agreements with Kazakh suppliers. * EADS North America is working on export opportunities...
Latest updates: 25mm ammo handling systems. AC-130U & flares(click to view full) In 2006 GD was contracted to repackage A-10 ammo for AC-130 Gunships. As is so often the case, there's a story behind the story. The USA's fearsome AC-130U "Spooky" Hercules gunships were...
* US SecDef Panetta told the House Budget Committee in a hearing yesterday that he would start planning for sequestration this summer if Congress has not reached a deal by then. It is likely he will have to, and that is not even factoring in new debates over the debt...