* The FY14 US defense appropriations bill (HR 2397) may be taken up by the House of Representatives in days to come under a somewhat unusual process that would limit amendments, reports the Hill.
* US defense secretary Hagel announced a 20% cut of the staff at his office (OSD), in the joint staff, and the service chiefs’ headquarters’ staff, over 2015-19. More specific details to come, but estimates size the cuts at 3,000 to 5,000 people for $1.5B-$2B in savings.
* The Pentagon’s Operational Test and Evaluation office (DOT&E) released a report [PDF] on its test science roadmap assessing the testing workforce capabilities, among other things. An interesting observation:
“Testers have experience with the difficulty and cost associated with testing to certain metrics. [C]onsider a requirement for 99% reliability for completing a 6-hour mission. [This would require] 1,800 hours of testing. If the requirement were lowered to 95% reliability […] testing could be accomplished in a minimum of 350 hours. If the testing revealed 40 hours between failures […] that would indicate an 86% probability of completing a 6-hour mission. Is this good enough? For evaluators to make this judgment, the rationale for the reliability requirement needs to be provided by the requirements writer [emphasis DID]. DOT&E intends to mandate that Milestone B TEMPs have an annex explaining the users’ rationale for requirements in the Capability Development Document.”
* DOT&E also updated their Test & Evaluation Master Plan (TEMP) guidebook, now in v2.1 [PDF].
* The latest Defense AT&L [PDF] has advice for program managers tackling their first international program.
* Defense Acquisition Journal explains [PDF] what the Defense Logistics Agency’s Disposition Services (DDLS) is and how it can be a supply source to the services.
* USMC Captain Chris Barber: Anecdotal Economics from the Long War. Very good points on cost asymmetry and the diminishing returns of expensive technology applied to, or maybe crammed into, the battlefield.
* Toppling of president Morsi by the Egyptian military at the beginning of the month is getting in the way of Turkey’s defense partnership with Egypt. Some in Turkey suspect the US of having had something to do with it.
* A court martial in India dismissed Wing Commander A K Thakur for having asked a bribe from Dassault at an air show in early 2011.
* If you have been struggling to understand what’s going on with China’s economy, this interview with Patrick Chovanec, a strategist at an asset management firm, is a must-read for its impeccable clarity. Not a defense article per se, but useful for macro background.
* UK Defence Secretary Philip Hammond, interviewed in the video below on the future of Trident, said “a part-time deterrent is no deterrent at all”:
