Briefings : Carrier contracts, NPR, Choenan

A final set of contracts for the CVF aircraft carriers worth £20 million have been signed before the general election and the MOD has a snooze. The contracts include tactical communication systems and internal equipment and machinery. The British Army meanwhile has a new "cultural unit" to help train troops in better understanding Afghani and expecially Helmandi culture and society.

The US has published a new Nuclear Posture Review which states how and when the US will use it's nuclear weapons. It says it will no longer use nukes against a state that does not have nuclear weapons even if that state causes mass US casualties (of course this is rather moot, if 10s of 1000s of Americans are killed by chemical weapons for example the NPR may become just yet another piece of paper). The US will also not deploy any new nuclear warheads but will refurbish and re-use existing warheads. The Triad, despite speculation the bomber arm could be disbanded, will be kept.

No clear link between North Korea and the sinking of the South Korean corvette Choenan has been found. Instead the sinking may have been due to metal fatigue though naval divers have apparently found that the ship was hit from below perhaps by a torpedo. Basically no one knows yet.