New decisions and studies already involve the Global Hawk, special missions aircraft, U-2s,

PARIS – Following a rough year in 2010, France remained the world’s fourth-largest arms exporter last year, behind the U.S., U.K. and Russia, reporting a 25% boost – from €5.1 billion to €6.5 billion – at the end of 2011. The French armaments agency DGA estimates the world’s top four arms exporters account for 90% of the global military export market, although anemic U.S. and European budgets are helping to stimulate the market entry of new players, including China and South Korea.

LOW AWARDS: NASA has picked Teledyne Brown Engineering Inc. and Sierra Lobo Inc. as the 2011 winners of the George M. Low Awards for contractor quality and performance. Teledyne Brown, of Huntsville, Ala., provides support services in science, operations and maintenance, space systems engineering and other areas to Marshall Space Flight Center, and payload and cargo integration to Johnson Space Center.

Chris Scolese will take over as director of NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center on March 5, replacing Robert Strain, recently named chief operating officer at Ball Aerospace. Scolese’s NASA-headquarters position as associate administrator will be filled on an acting basis by Robert Lightfoot, currently the director of Marshall Space Flight Center. Gene Goldman, Lightfoot’s deputy, will become acting director of the Alabama center.

Would clear way for first launch late in June or early in July, first flight to ISS in August or September.

LONDON – The U.K. defense establishment may not be adequately recognizing the threat from space weather or weapons-induced electronic magnetic pulse (EMP), a new parliamentary report suggests. “An appearance is given that the [defense ministry] is unwilling to take these threats seriously,” Parliament’s defense committee says in a report entitled “Developing Threats: Electro-Magnetic Pulses.”

Houston – Founders of the Scientific Preparatory Academy for Cosmic Explorers, or SPACE, will preview plans for a four-year undergraduate institution structured to prepare a global student body for careers in space development with real-world experience and classroom instruction during a pair of conferences set for May and July. The formative school, which is patterned after the 25-year-old graduate level International Space University, was chartered on the Isle of Man in January.