* Israel told the US that they suspect Russia intends to sell 4 S-300 missile batteries – for a total of 144 missiles – to Syria, according to the WSJ. For what it’s worth, Russia is also setting up an international conference with the US to resolve a civil war that started more than two years ago. Meanwhile the UK continues to push for a lift of the EU embargo on arms sales to Syrian rebels.
* South Korea will develop its own missile defense rather than join the United States’ system, said their defense minister as President Park was meeting with President Obama.
* India is reportedly following through with at least some of China’s conditions to the withdrawal of a Chinese platoon over the line of actual control in Ladakh, with the destruction of Indian bunkers in the Chumar sector. China never admitted to having crossed into Indian territory, but nonetheless got something out of the confrontation, while India’s Army and Indo-Tibetan Border Police have a turf war of their own.
* The evolving balance of power in Central Asia: more Russia, less NATO, little China.
* A bill introduced in the US Senate (S. 892) yesterday intends to block Iran’s access to about $100B worth of its own foreign reserves, while the state-run Bank of China on Tuesday cut all ties with a key North Korean bank that has been tied to the North’s nuclear and missile development plans. Choking the cash supply of bad actors may also be at stake in efforts to fight piracy in the Gulf of Guinea.
* The Alliance for American Manufacturing advocacy group published a report [PDF] on supply chain vulnerabilities affecting the US defense industrial base, which it defines as a public good. Unsurprisingly the document recommends funneling more federal money and crafting legislation in favor of the nonprofit’s members. Still worth checking out for its thorough review all the way from raw commodities to subcomponents to end items.
* The Pentagon updated [PDF] its systems engineering guidance in order to make it Better Buying Powered (tm) and more readable.
* Andrew P. Hunter has been assigned as director of the Joint Rapid Acquisition Cell within the office of the US Under Secretary of Defense for acquisition. He was already working at the OUSD AT&L and was previously a staff member with the House Armed Services Committee.
* Huntington Ingalls Industries’ sales for Q1 2013 were about flat from a year ago.
* Among recent tweaks to our website based on reader feedback from our latest survey: better embedded media galleries, a separate and more granular list of countries in the sidebar, and speed optimizations. We have a number of similar “quality of life” improvements in the pipeline for the months to come. Besides such incremental work, the next major project we have started researching is how to deliver a much better search experience. While we never shy from denouncing program delays in our coverage, we’re not committing to a firm deadline on such a major endeavor. How’s that for double standards? As always, let us know how we’re doing here.
