* This week’s – maybe this year’s – must-read: “Leadership and Accountability” at the US Naval Institute’s blog discusses a recent failed court-martial, the court’s implied rebuke regarding the state of the LPD-17 ship class, and the corresponding state of Navy leadership. Sobering – and see also the comments section.
* Lame duck: US Congress drags feet on passage of FY2011 defense spending and authorization bills.
* Planning counter-insurgency psyops? Try The Washington Institute for Near East Policy’s “Learning Counter-Narrative Lessons from Cases of Terrorist Dropouts.”
* Leaky process: A UK MoD document leaked to the press argues that the recently completed Strategic Defence and Security Review process was rushed and has demoralized the armed forces and strained relations with allies. So, cuts make people unhappy. Who would have thought?
* PricewaterhouseCoopers: The pace of mergers and acquisitions in the aerospace and defense industry picked up in the third quarter, reaching a total deal value of $3.8 billion.
* Boeing buys real-time logistics planning software vendor CDM.
* Lockheed Martin to consolidate its Mission Systems and Sensors facilities away from Minnesota; 1,100 jobs will be affected, but layoffs will be offset by the transfer of 650 jobs to other facilities.
* Judge reinstates part of a whistleblower lawsuit concerning software for the F-35.
* Even as the F-35B faces rough sledding, and there is talk of resuming F-22A production.
* Upgraded A-10C close air support fighters have deployed to Osan AB, South Korea.
* Raytheon’s RACR, and Northrop Grumman’s SABR AESA radars finish tests, unofficially launching a competition to upgrade F-16s around the world. SABR is ahead, with Northrop Grumman already getting clearance to brief potential customers.
* Not so green: A full 78% of defense industry players surveyed by iCD Research said only a minority of defense ministries consider reduction of carbon emissions as a criterion for supplier selection. Surprisingly, not getting one’s people killed appears to be more important.
* Robbins-Gioia gets contracts worth $4.5 million to support Defense Logistics Agency’s Information Operations unit.