* KyivPost: “Interim Ukrainian President Oleksandr Turchynov called the separatist referendums in Luhansk and Donetsk oblasts – collectively 15% of the nation – a ‘farce’ that ‘will not have any legal consequences except for the prosecution of its organizers.'”
* French President Hollande confirmed that for now the Mistral contract with Russia is still being fulfilled. Les Echos [in French].
Future Surface Connector
* The US Navy announced its Surface Connector (X) Replacement (SC(X)R) program in June last year. They are now organizing an industry day in Virginia Beach, VA on June 10 to explain how they intend to replace the current Landing Craft, Utility (LCU) 1610 Class.
Covering Counterfeit Costs
* The DFARS US defense acquisition regulations have been updated last week to start implementing language from the FY12 and FY13 authorization laws relating to the detection and avoidance of counterfeit electronic parts, shifting liability on contractors in case of loss or damage to government property. MS Word document.
How Some Projects Seem to Start Well By Postponing Hardest Tasks
* The May/June edition [PDF] of Crosstalk Magazine describes the hidden laws of software-intensive development programs – i.e. most defense programs these days. Among them, the bow wave effect (video), a “pattern of decisions in spiral development which are intended to improve visible progress by postponing riskier tasks in favor of more straightforward tasks that have a higher likelihood of being completed successfully in the near-term. While this approach does improve apparent progress, a backlog of complex tasks that have been deferred to a later spiral is building up like the bow wave in front of a large ship.”
RIMPACanada
* Canada’s DND details how it will contribute to the RIMPAC 2014 exercise.
Special Operations Shopping
* Today’s video from Al Jazeera covers the Special Operations Forces Exhibition & Conference (SOFEX) that took place last week in Jordan:
