* US Army Acquisition Undersecretary Heidi Shyu described her service’s modernization efforts as approaching a “death spiral.” That it not just the type of anti-sequestration rethoric we’ve grown used to, as Shyu sounds genuinely frustrated with the amount of paperwork that program managers have to file for each program milestone.
* Case in point, the US Army’s follow up to the ill-fated GCV has been dubbed the Future Fighting Vehicle (FFV) and will remain [Army Times] just a notional program until at least 2016.
* The CSIS think tank released its analysis of US defense contract spending over 2000-13, which is the topic of today’s video further below. There are plenty of good charts in this report, including one illustrating the dramatic shrinkage in land vehicle procurement.
* It’s our understanding that readers who have not answered our annual survey yet are overwhelmed with guilt. It’s OK, here’s the link.
DoD Regulations
* The GAO released another scorching page turner: Specialty Metals: DOD Dissemination of National Security Waiver Information Could Enhance Awareness and Compliance with Restrictions. We’re told it’s on Heidi Shyu’s bedside table.
Asia
* The Us Navy announced that 2 BMD destroyers currently homeported in California will be based in Japan by 2017, in order to firm the Administration’s bellyflop to the Pacific.
Europe
* Russia is to start operating [Xinhua] a new radar station in Kaliningrad in December.
Human Factors
* The French Air Force has been measuring human factors [in French, with video] such as vigilance and tiredness to maximize crew use on A400Ms without compromising safety.