* The US Defense Logistics Agency (DLA) Land and Maritime says its $1.1B Tires Successor Initiative (TSI) 5-year contract with SAIC is now fully operational. Aircraft tires started being handled within this agreement on Jan. 23, followed by ground tires a month ago.
* Regina Dugan, Director of DARPA since July 2009, will leave in a few weeks for Google.
* CACI is making executive changes too.
* The US Army’s Wheeled Vehicle Mechanic School in Fort Jackson, South Carolina has been working on lightweight, mobile training aids. They gutted out MRAP suspension and fire suppression systems to mount them on a training aid and are also using 3D software to help students familiarize themselves with the vehicles they will have to maintain.
* A group of US Senators wants to pressure Russia into dropping its support for Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. Their suggested leverage: threatening to cancel a contract with Rosoboronexport to procure Mi-17 helicopters for the Afghan military. In past years procuring Mi-17s for Iraq through tortuous paths was contentious too.
* British Royal Navy Hunt class minehunter HMS Chiddingfold is getting new engines.
* The Australian Government’s Export Credit Agency and private company OzForex are putting foreign currency hedging tools in place to help small businesses mitigate liabilities while they grow their exports.
* If US defense budget sequestration were to happen next year, how would it have to be applied? It is in the Pentagon’s interest to make it look as bad as possible to push Congress into action, but there does seem to be little wiggle room here.
* Loren Thompson is listing convincing reasons why it is unlikely defense contractors will significantly diversify into civilian sectors.
* A Ka-52 Alligator Russian helicopter crashed earlier today. The two pilots are dead.