* Acting US Air Force Secretary Eric Fanning restated that his department’s three big acquisition priorities are the F-35, the KC-46 and a future bomber. Meanwhile, “single mission fleets”, such as A-10s or KC-10s, will be the likely targets of cuts.
* A joint venture between Textron and Airland Enterprises introduced Scorpion, an ISR/tactical strike aircraft the plan to pitch as a low-cost platform attuned to budget-constrained times. Not to be confused with Textron’s networked munitions system bearing the same name.
* President Obama waived some restrictions under the Arms Export Control Act in order to “allow the U.S. Government to provide or license, where appropriate, certain non-lethal assistance inside or related to Syria.” This will let the US provide gas masks and other anti-chemical equipment to the rebels.
* IHS Jane’s estimates that out of about 100,000 fighters in the Syrian opposition, half are either hardline islamists or outright jihadists (i.e. with a global rather than national motivation).
* Anthony Cordesman at the CSIS think tank writes a scathing assessment of US policy in Afghanistan, which he describes as “a war without transparency, coherent plans, meaningful budgets, cost analysis, or credible measures of effectiveness.”
* Singapore is about to acquire ASTER-30 surface-air missiles from MBDA to replace their I-Hawks.
* WSJ: Japanese Prime Minister Abe Pushes to Extend Military’s Role.
* Today’s video features American and Japanese troops training for urban combat together at the Yakima Training Center, Wash., during Rising Thunder 13. From one of the Japanese participants, speaking about the ranges and facilities: “there are things we can’t do in Japan that we can do here”.
