* Turkey’s refusal to step in before a bloodbath likely to happen in Kobani, a Syrian town besieged by ISIS [Deutche Welle], has been met with deadly protests locally, and heavy [USA Today] criticism [National Review] in the US. Not so fast, says Chris Kilford who until recently was Canada’s Defence Attaché to Turkey:
“The truth is that the Turkish military, without extensive preparation, is not able to conduct sustained cross-border operations against a determined opposition such as ISIL. In Turkey’s defence there are not that many militaries that would contemplate going it alone either. More to the point, a hastily planned unilateral intervention by the Turkish military could be extremely damaging politically if things went wrong.”
* Lt Gen David Deptula (USAF, Ret.) has choice words for the US Administration, based on his experience in Afghanistan:
“One can see [ISIS] tanks and artillery… in the open on TV, yet the coalition forces for ‘Operation Un-named Effort’ are not hitting them. Airpower can hit those targets and many others, but those in charge of its application are not—that’s the issue—not the limits of airpower.”
* How did we get there? Reuters looks at the US’ Syria policy stalled under the ‘analyst in chief’.
DARPA Channels Ancient Sumerians
* DARPA’s recent briefing [PDF] on its Ground X-Vehicle Technologies (GXV-T) project starts its history of cavalry in 4000 BC. Now that’s taking the long view! They’re not just trying to impress history buffs, their point is that 6,000 years of weight gains have led to armored vehicles whose passive protection comes at the cost of a very heavy logistics footprint. They issued a presolicitation [FBO] earlier this week, with proposals expected by December 5.
Brit Spending
* The Financial Times reviews the state of the UK’s defense budget and the likely scenarios ahead. “The first, for the UK to hit its NATO defence spending target in the next parliament, as Mr Fallon called for, is almost unfathomable.” Low growth or even further cuts seem more likely.
Indian Procurement
* 2 former Finmeccanica executives were convicted by an Italian court of falsifying invoices but cleared of corruption charges in the investigation of a helicopter sale to India: FT | La Repubblica [in Italian].
South American Cooperation
* Brazil joins the US, Argentina, and Uruguay for the Salitre 2014 joint exercise hosted by Chile in the country’s northern desert, described in the video below [in Brazilian]. US SecDef Hagel is currently on a 6-day trip through Colombia, Chile, and Peru:
