24 Mar 10. Committees on Arms Export Controls (CAEC). Scrutiny of Arms Export Controls (2010): UK Strategic Export Controls Annual Report 2008, Quarterly Reports for 2009, licensing policy and review of export control legislation. The Committees on Arms Export Controls (CAEC) will publish its report on Scrutiny of Arms Export Controls (2010): UK Strategic Export Controls Annual Report 2008, Quarterly Reports for 2009, licensing policy and review of export control legislation at 00.01 on Tuesday 30 March as the First Joint Report from the Committee, Session 2009-10 (HC 202). Embargoed copies of the Report will be available from 10.00 am on Monday 29 March, for collection by witnesses and the press only from the Reception Desk at 7 Millbank, London, SW1P 3JA and from the Press Gallery, House of Commons. To reserve a copy or if you have a query please e-mail Vanessa Hallinan at hallinanv@parliament.uk.

18 Mar 10. Defence Committee: Report on ‘Comprehensive Approach’. The Defence Committee published (18 Mar 10) a Report on Comprehensive Approach: the point of war is not just to win but to make a better peace. The Report recommends that when Operations are started in future there must be robust plans to co-ordinate military and reconstruction efforts from the beginning.
Comment: The Report is not an easy read, but the main lesson is a plea for greater co-operation between the MoD, the Foreign & Commonwealth Office (FCO) and the Department for International Development (DfID). Such co-operation appears to work in ‘the field’ but has shortcomings in Whitehall (surprise! surprise!). The Report is available, as HC 224, for £23:00. (Source: DNA DEFENCE NEWS ANALYSIS, Issue 10/12, 22 Mar 10)

22 Mar 10. “Stagnant,” said Richard Sterk, Senior Defense Analyst and lead author of Forecast International’s “The Market for C4I,” in describing the current state of the world command, control, communications, computers, intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (C4ISR) market. “Fortunately, stagnant in this economy means doing OK when so much of it is in a major decline.” “The Market for C4I” examines some 113 leading C4I programs, and reviews 16 companies involved in the production of C4I systems. It projects a C4I market worth at least $53.8 billion over the next 10 years. More specifically, the value of the programs covered by the study will total $8.8 billion in 2010 and then decline to $3.6 billion in 2019. This 59.12 percent drop ($5.2 billion) in projected annual sales indicates that more than half of the programs explored will be completed by the end of the 10-year forecast period of 2010-2019. “Network integration continues as a top priority,” said Sterk, noting that “not only must individual services within a nation be able to share information, but nations must also be able to communicate with one another as they work together for common goals. This is not an easy task given the range in age of the technology in use around the world, as well as the technological hurdles to be faced in trying to disseminate huge amounts of information on such a grand scale.”
Among the companies reviewed in this analysis, Raytheon, General Dynamics, Northrop Grumman, Boeing, and Lockheed are projected to be the top five C4I defense companies over the next 10 years based on forecast sales volume and percentage of market share.