* The US Marines’ Program Executive Office Land Systems (PEO-LS) will hold an industry day on July 15/16 in Fredericksburg, VA to discuss its Amphibious Combat Vehicle (ACV) 1.1 requirement for an 8×8 wheeled amphibious combat vehicle. An RFP may come by late 2014 or early 2015 for a vehicle that will have to be significantly cheaper than the canceled EFV. Dakota Wood from the conservative Heritage Foundation thinks the Marine Corps has a good plan this time around.
BRIC Biz Dev
* India’s government objected to Russia considering selling military helicopters to Pakistan.
* France’s state-owned Nexter announced deals with Brazil’s Avibras and India’s Larsen & Toubro to work on joint artillery programs.
Ukraine
* Merkel, Hollande call on Putin to convince Ukraine rebels to lay down arms. Putin could start by stopping what looks ever more clearly like meddling.
Israel
* Hamas is threatening a third intifada while IDF conducts ongoing operations in the West Bank. It didn’t get a lot of media time, but the recent kidnapping of 3 Israeli teenagers from the religious Kfar Etzion kibbutz has sparked a significant military response, with many Hamas leaders arrested. Military operations will continue even if the 3 teens are found, and we’ll see how far this escalates. Unfortunately, a ‘911’ call from one of the abductees was ignored as a prank.
* Palestinian media say 5 Hamas terrorists have been killed inside a tunnel, though IDF wouldn’t confirm.
Tricky Treaties
* The US opposes a new draft treaty submitted by China and Russia that intends to ban space weapons.
* According to the WSJ the White House is considering banning the use of land mines by its military, though the Administration has objected to the details of that article without clarifying its actual position.
Robot Flood
* Today’s video, from the Center for a New American Security (CNAS), covers the increasing use of robots and other autonomous systems on the battlefield, tying back to some of the legal and ethical issues earlier raised by landmine use:
