* President Obama announced that air strikes against ISIL will be expanded to Syria, hopefully but not necessarily with Congressional support. Video | Transcript.
* Conrad Crane from the US Army War College makes plenty of interesting observations [War on the Rocks] about the “long war”, 13 years into it.
US Biz Dev
* USNAVAIR and NAWCAD are organizing an industry day [FBO] in Solomons, MD to present their long term acquisition forecast.
* Here’s the briefing [PDF] delivered by the USAF to contractors who attended a recent industry day on LINK 16 improvements for Guard and Reserve Block 25/30/32 F-16s. The funding decision should be made next month with an RFP coming in April next year and a contract award by November 2015.
* The Pentagon’s FY14 OCO reprogramming request [PDF] asks for more money for 21 AH-64E helos and 550 Hellfire missiles among other procurement increases, offset by reduced services spending from the Army.
Europe
* As recent polls seem to indicate that the Scots may indeed elect to quit the United Kingdom, this brings headaches to BAE Systems and its Royal Navy shipbuilding contracts.
* President Putin is consolidating control of Russia’s defense apparatus, with the setup of a Military-Industrial Commission answering directly to him.
Mending the Soul and Body
* Today’s video, from British Force News, explains the work done by HorseBack UK, a nonprofit set up 5 years ago in their physical and mental recovery by working with horses:
