* British military procurement is to make a big step if Philip Hammond’s statement [PDF] to Parliament last week is followed up by implementation. The Defence Minister wants to turn Defence Equipment & Support (DE&S) into a Government Owned, Contractor Operated (GOCO) entity after having “soft market tested” alternatives earlier this year. This is likely to lead to a competition among interested service companies but it will take a while to happen, and there are many challenges ahead. DE&S currently employs about 18,000 people with a budget of around 14 billion pounds (slightly under 22 billion US dollars).
* Closer to the ground, the UK’s armed forces now have a choice among 5 types of boots, including new brown boots meant to be worn with the Multi Terrain Pattern uniform. The boots come with 2 width fittings to better take into account female personnel.
* The US Navy continues preparations for an X-47B UCAS-D unmanned drone to land on a carrier in 2013. The latest move? Testing new software on board the USS Harry S. Truman (CVN-75).
* As promised, RIMPAC delivered hot sinkex action. Canada’s HMCS Victoria got to torpedo USNS Concord.
* The Washington Times reports how an internal US Army memo on intelligence software that helps with IED detection initially praised the IQT-backed Palantir solution, but was then destroyed and replaced with a less favorable view vs. the Army’s own Distributed Common Ground System (DCGS-A). This echoes other reports from the last couple of years that claimed DCGS-A was not quite up to the task.
* Israel Defense Forces site: “Defense Minister: Hezbollah will try using Assad’s fall to get chemical weapons“. Syria has had them for some time.
* In his first testimony [in French] in front of the newly elected lower chamber, France’s Chairman of the joint chief of staff Admiral Edouard Guillaud concurred with congressman Alain Rousset who expressed concern that Germany is ramping up its own space and antimissile capabilities, thus competing with pan-European (with a strong French component) players Astrium and Thales Alenia Space.
* The French are fretting not just about lackluster European defense integration, but also because they’re engaging into another round of strategic soul searching. President Francois Hollande announced a new “Livre Blanc” (white paper) for the end of the year. The last such policy document was released by his predecessor Sarkozy four years ago. The Senate’s commission on defense and foreign affairs released an alarmed report on cyberdefense [in French]; they want the topic to be featured prominently in the Livre Blanc.
* Reminder: DID is running its annual survey on the perceived performance of prime contractors. Please chime in if you haven’t already.