* The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) announced the 6 sites selected for UAS research: University of Alaska, State of Nevada, New York’s Griffiss International Airport, North Dakota Department of Commerce, Texas A&M University, and Virginia Tech. Nevada is also one of 3 states where self-driving cars can be licensed.
* We missed the Pentagon’s updated long term unmanned system roadmap last week, so here it is [PDF]. After a drop to $4.1B in total UAS funding in FY14, budgets are planned to rebound to the $4.7B-$5.3B/year range over the following 4 years.
* Oskar Levander from Rolls Royce thinks it’s time to have a debate about remote-controlled ships.
* Today’s video reviews the state of self-driving cars:
Naval Procurement
* From USNI, a quick wrap-up of this year’s US Navy acquisition developments.
Hotspot Ranking
* The Council on Foreign Relations released the results of its yearly survey of officials and academics on the topic of the conflicts most likely to erupt or escalate next year. No big surprises, as Syria, Afghanistan and North Korea rank high among the likely hot spots.
* And from Foreign Policy: next year’s wars.
* India’s MoD-funded Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses provides a review of security in southern Asia.