Thursday, January 31, 2013

Military And Intelligence News Briefs -- January 31, 2013

The Pentagon. DoD photo by Tech. Sgt. Andy Dunaway, U.S. Air Force

U.S. Defense Spending Fell At The Fastest Rate In 40 Years -- Business Insider

We've mentioned a few times today that GDP went negative primarily because of the big drop in defense spending.

But we didn't realize just how historic the drop was.

JPMorgan economist Michael Feroli put it in context. The defense spending drop happened at the fastest pace in 40 years. As you can see in the chart below, the last time we had a faster drop was in 1972.

Read more ....

MILITARY AND INTELLIGENCE NEWS BRIEFS

NATO Chief to Warn Defense Cuts Could Endanger Alliance's Power -- Reuters

Canada Budget Cuts Cleave Deepest in Army -- Defense News

UK unveils £159 billion defence equipment plan, but doubts remain -- Reuters

David Cameron 'to keep defence equipment spending pledge' -- BBC

Australian Defence Force to sell off thousands of vehicles and other war equipment -- Herald Sun

China preparing to win high intensity military ops -- Zee News

Top Court Rejects Call to Close Airbase in Central Russia -- RIA Novosti

Was the Mistral a Bad Deal for Russia? -- Information Dissemination

Iran Navy Starts 3-Day Drills in Persian Gulf
-- RIA Novosti

Bundestag extends German military mission in Afghanistan -- Deutsche Welle

Congressional Watchdog Questions Size of Afghan Forces -- Defense News

ASD Mike Sheehan: Yemen, Somalia Are Models For Mali; Afghans Should Watch
-- Sydney J. Freedberg Jr., Aol Defense

Special Ops Command South Presses for Increased Engagement -- US Department of Defense

Pentagon Increases Focus on AFRICOM
-- Defense News

Sales of F-35 fighters to Israel could violate Japan's export ban -- Asahi Shimbun

Navy Under Secretary not worried about F-35B grounding -- Defense Tech

Reduced F-35 performance specifications may have significant operational impact -- Flight Global

Faulty F-35 fuel lines to be scanned in U.S. instead of Britain
-- Reuters

100th F-35 On Lockheed Martin’s Production Line -- Lockheed Martin

Littoral Combat Ships- How not to buy ships
-- Bring the heat. Bring the Stupid.

LCS - A History Lesson in Failed Execution -- Information Dissemination

Back to the Future with Cargo Airship
-- Defense Tech

Smartphone to hold integrated warrior gear -- Space Daily/UPI

U.S. military contracts for linguists -- UPI

7 Big Defense Companies With Big Transparency Problems -- Danger Room

Automatic defense cuts called ‘more likely than unlikely’ -- Stars and Stripes/Bloomberg

Council Worries 100K Shipbuilding Jobs At Risk; Sequestration Killed GDP Growth -- Aol Defense

Hagel: Sequester cuts would devastate military -- Navy Times

Next Pentagon Chief Doesn’t Want to Get Sucked Into France’s Mali War
-- Danger Room

Republican Hagel faces GOP critics at hearing -- AP

Hagel to face grilling by Senate panel on Mideast, budget -- Reuters

White House on offensive to get Hagel as defense secretary -- Reuters

For Defense Sector, Americans’ Support for Military Cuts Is an Inconvenient Truth -- Defense News

Military judge rejects defense arguments in Fort Hood shooting case
-- Reuters

Even After Lackland Scandal, Military Still Isn’t Fixing Its Sexual Abuse Epidemic -- Danger Room

GAO: Military lack guidance on responding to sex assaults
-- Stars and Stripes/Washington Post

Science Fiction and Fantasy Authors Who Served in the Military, and How it Changed Their Work
-- io9

Defense cuts that need to be avoided
-- Washington Post editorial

Pentagon's budget nightmare: How each branch would handle sequester cuts -- Christian Science Monitor

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